The emergence of language as a function of brain-hemispheric feedback

This text posits the emergence of language as a function of brain-hemispheric feedback, where “emergence” refers to the generation of complex patterns from relatively simple interactions, “language” refers to an abstraction-based and representational-recombinatorial-recursive mapping-signaling system, “function” refers to an input-output relationship described by fractal algorithms, “brain-hemispheric” refers to complementary (approach-abstraction / avoidance-gestalt) cognitive modules, and “feedback” refers to self-regulation driven by neural inhibition and recruitment. The origin of language marks the dawn of human self-awareness and culture, and is thus a matter of fundamental and cross-disciplinary interest. This text is a synthesized research essay that constructs its argument by drawing diverse scholarly voices into a critical, cross-disciplinary intertextual narrative. While it does not report any original empirical findings, it harnesses those made by others to offer a tentative, partial solution—one that can later be altered and expanded—to a problem that has occupied thinkers for centuries. The research contained within this text is preceded by an introductory Section 1 that contextualizes the problem of the origin of language. Section 2 details the potential of evolutionary theory for addressing the problem, and the reasons for the century-long failure of linguistics to take advantage of that potential. Section 3 reviews the history of the discovery of brain lateralization, as well as its behavioral and structural characteristics. Section 4 discusses evolutionary evidence and mechanisms in terms of increasing adaptive complexity and intelligence, in general, and tool use, in particular. Section 5 combines chaos theory, brain science, and semiotics to propose that, after the neotenic acquisition of contingency-based abstraction, language emerged as a feedback interaction between the left-hemisphere abstract word and the right-hemisphere gestalt image. I conclude that the model proposed here might be a valuable tool for understanding, organizing, and relating data and ideas concerning human evolution, language, culture, and psychology. I recommend, of course, that I present this text to the scholarly community for criticism, and that I continue to gather and collate relevant data and ideas, in order to prepare its next iteration

Hyperspectral Imaging as an Early Biomarker for Radiation Exposure and Microcirculatory Damage

BACKGROUND: Radiation exposure can lead to detrimental effects in skin microcirculation. The precise relationship between radiation dose received and its effect on cutaneous perfusion still remains controversial. Previously, we have shown that hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is able to demonstrate long-term reductions in cutaneous perfusion secondary to chronic microvascular injury. This study characterizes the changes in skin microcirculation in response to varying doses of ionizing radiation and investigates these microcirculatory changes as a possible early non-invasive biomarker that may correlate with the extent of long-term microvascular damage.METHODS: Immunocompetent hairless mice (n=66) were exposed to single fractions of superficial beta-irradiation in doses of 0, 5, 10, 20, 35, or 50 Gy. A HSI device was utilized to measure deoxygenated hemoglobin levels in irradiated and control areas. HSI measurements were performed at baseline before radiation exposure and for the first three days post-irradiation. Maximum macroscopic skin reactions were graded, and histological assessment of cutaneous microvascular densities at four weeks post-irradiation was performed in harvested tissue by CD31 immunohistochemistry.RESULTS: CD31 immunohistochemistry demonstrated a significant correlation (r=0.90, p<0.0001) between dose and vessel density reduction at four weeks. Using HSI analysis, early changes in deoxygenated hemoglobin levels were observed during the first three days post-irradiation in all groups. These deoxygenated hemoglobin changes varied proportionally with dose (r=0.98, p<0.0001) and skin reactions (r=0.98, p<0.0001). There was a highly significant correlation (r= 0.91, p<0.0001) between these early changes in deoxygenated hemoglobin and late vascular injury severity assessed at the end of four weeks.CONCLUSIONS: Radiation dose is directly correlated with cutaneous microvascular injury severity at four weeks in our model. Early post-exposure measurement of cutaneous deoxygenated hemoglobin levels may be a useful biomarker for radiation dose reconstruction and predictor for chronic microvascular injury

Hyperspectral imaging for early detection of oxygenation and perfusion changes in irradiated skin

Studies examining acute oxygenation and perfusion changes in irradiated skin are limited. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI), a method of wide-field, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, provides noninvasive, quantified measurements of cutaneous oxygenation and perfusion. This study examines whether HSI can assess acute changes in oxygenation and perfusion following irradiation. Skin on both flanks of nude mice (n=20) was exposed to 50 Gy of beta radiation from a strontium-90 source. Hyperspectral images were obtained before irradiation and on selected days for three weeks. Skin reaction assessment was performed concurrently with HSI. Desquamative injury formed in all irradiated areas. Skin reactions were first seen on day 7, with peak formation on day 14, and resolution beginning by day 21. HSI demonstrated increased tissue oxygenation on day 1 before cutaneous changes were observed (

Young children perceive less humanness in outgroup faces

We investigated when young children first dehumanise outgroups. Across two studies, 5- and6-year-olds were asked to rate how human they thought a set of ambiguous doll-human facemorphs were. We manipulated whether these faces belonged to their gender in- or genderoutgroup (Study 1) and to a geographically based in- or outgroup (Study 2). In both studies,the tendency to perceive outgroup faces as less human relative to ingroup faces increasedwith age. Explicit ingroup preference, in contrast, was present even in the youngest childrenand remained stable across age. These results demonstrate that children dehumaniseoutgroup members from relatively early in development and suggest that the tendency to doso may be partially distinguishable from intergroup preference. This research has importantimplications for our understanding of children’s perception of humanness and the origins ofintergroup bias

Moon Time

Illustration of man and woman kissing inside moonhttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/9859/thumbnail.jp

A gravity and geothermal study of the Presidio Bolson, Presidio County, Texas

Abstract not availabl