Institutional path-dependencies in Europe’s networked modes of governance

We consider whether transnational networks that softly discipline member states (e.g. the OMC or regulatory networks that oversee national discretion in implementing broad EU frameworks) mark a significant turn in European integration or merely a transitional step towards centralisation (e.g. agencification) and formalisation (subjecting to law). We suggest this requires a closer reading of the institutional changes necessary to bring about centralisation/formalisation, and ask particularly whether change might be partially attributable to the very institutional-agents operating inside Europe’s networked modes of governance. Supplementing functional-political explanations, we propose an endogenous model of institutional change that incorporates the independent role transnational networks play in shaping their own institutionalisation, which may make this mode of governance more resilient and even self-reinforcing. We test the plausibility of this model with a case study detailing the institutional entrepreneurship of transnational networks in the telecoms sector

A Neural Dissociation Within Language: Evidence that the Mental Dictionary is Part of Declarative Memory, and that Grammatical Rules are Processed by the Procedural System

Language comprises a lexicon for storing words and a grammar for generating rule-governed forms. Evidence is presented that the lexicon is part of a temporal-parietalhnedial-temporal “declarative memory” system and that granlmatical rules are processed by a frontamasal-ganglia “procedural” system. Patients produced past tenses of regular and novel verbs (looked and plagged), which require an -ed-suffixation rule, and irregular verbs (dug), which are retrieved from memory. Word-finding difficulties in posterior aphasia, and the general declarative memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease, led to more errors with irregular than regular and novel verbs. Grammatical difficulties in anterior aphasia, and the general impairment of procedures in Parkinson's disease, led to the opposite pattern. In contrast to the Parkinson's patients, who showed suppressed motor activity and rule use, Huntington's disease patients showed excess motor activity and rule use, underscoring a role for the basal ganglia in grammatical processing.Psycholog

BRICS, the southern model, and the evolving landscape of development assistance: Toward a new taxonomy

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Below the Belt? Territory and Development in China’s International Rise

China’s internationalization has been heralded by some as a new era of South–South cooperation. Yet such framings of development are pitched at an abstract space of the ‘global South’ which conceals more than it reveals. With some theory moving towards ontologies of ‘global development’, we need to capture both the connectedness and the local specificity of increasingly diffuse processes. This article sets out a more fine-grained understanding of how political territories and processes are imagined and produced by and through China’s internationalization, focusing on infrastructure as a ‘technology’ of territorialization. Much of the focus on China’s internationalization has been on state-to-state relations, but this obscures the ‘omni-channel politics’ that China practises. Using a critical literature review and illustrative case study, this article develops the idea of omni-channel politics to posit a view of ‘twisted’ territories in which political processes and development outcomes are more complex and contingent

Social Pain and the Brain: Controversies, Questions, and Where to Go from Here

Emerging evidence has shown that social pain--the painful feelings that follow from social rejection, exclusion, or loss--relies on some of the same neural regions that process physical pain, highlighting a possible physical-social pain overlap. However, the hypothesis that physical pain and social pain rely on shared neural systems has been contested. This review begins by summarizing research supporting the physical-social pain overlap. Next, three criticisms of this overlap model are presented and addressed by synthesizing available research. These criticisms include the suggestions that (a) neural responses to social pain are indicative of conflict detection processes, rather than distress; (b) all negative affective processes, rather than social pain specifically, activate these pain-related neural regions; and (c) neural responses to social (and physical) pain reflect the processing of salience, rather than hurt. Implications of these findings for understanding social and physical pain are discussed, and key next steps are suggested

Recommendations for defining preventable HIV-related mortality for public health monitoring in the era of Getting to Zero: an expert consensus

Getting to Zero is a commonly cited strategic aim to reduce mortality due to both HIV and avoidable deaths among people with HIV. However, no clear definitions are attached to these aims with regard to what constitutes HIV-related or preventable mortality, and their ambition is limited. This Position Paper presents consensus recommendations to define preventable HIV-related mortality for a pragmatic approach to public health monitoring by use of national HIV surveillance data. These recommendations were informed by a comprehensive literature review and agreed by 42 international experts, including clinicians, public health professionals, researchers, commissioners, and community representatives. By applying the recommendations to 2019 national HIV surveillance data from the UK, we show that 30% of deaths among people with HIV were HIV-related or possibly HIV-related, and at least 63% of these deaths were preventable or potentially preventable. The application of these recommendations by health authorities will ensure consistent monitoring of HIV elimination targets and allow for the identification of inequalities and areas for intervention

Individual differences in explicit and implicit visuomotor learning and working memory capacity

The theoretical basis for the association between high working memory capacity (WMC) and enhanced visuomotor adaptation is unknown. Visuomotor adaptation involves interplay between explicit and implicit systems. We examined whether the positive association between adaptation and WMC is specific to the explicit component of adaptation. Experiment 1 replicated the positive correlation between WMC and adaptation, but revealed this was specific to the explicit component of adaptation, and apparently driven by a sub-group of participants who did not show any explicit adaptation in the correct direction. A negative correlation was observed between WMC and implicit learning. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that when the task restricted the development of an explicit strategy, high WMC was no longer associated with enhanced adaptation. This work reveals that the benefit of high WMC is specifically linked to an individual’s capacity to use an explicit strategy. It also reveals an important contribution of individual differences in determining how adaptation is performed

The Human Parahippocampal Region: I. Temporal Pole Cytoarchitectonic and MRI Correlation

The temporal pole (TP) is the rostralmost portion of the human temporal lobe. Characteristically, it is only present in human and nonhuman primates. TP has been implicated in different cognitive functions such as emotion, attention, behavior, and memory, based on functional studies performed in healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative diseases through its anatomical connections (amygdala, pulvinar, orbitofrontal cortex). TP was originally described as a single uniform area by Brodmann area 38, and von Economo (area TG of von Economo and Koskinas), and little information on its cytoarchitectonics is known in humans. We hypothesize that 1) TP is not a homogenous area and we aim first at fixating the precise extent and limits of temporopolar cortex (TPC) with adjacent fields and 2) its structure can be correlated with structural magnetic resonance images. We describe here the macroscopic characteristics and cytoarchitecture as two subfields, a medial and a lateral area, that constitute TPC also noticeable in 2D and 3D reconstructions. Our findings suggest that the human TP is a heterogeneous region formed exclusively by TPC for about 7 mm of the temporal tip, and that becomes progressively restricted to the medial and ventral sides of the TP. This cortical area presents topographical and structural features in common with nonhuman primates, which suggests an evolutionary development in human species

Classic and recent advances in understanding amnesia

Neurological amnesia has been and remains the focus of intense study, motivated by the drive to understand typical and atypical memory function and the underlying brain basis that is involved. There is now a consensus that amnesia associated with hippocampal (and, in many cases, broader medial temporal lobe) damage results in deficits in episodic memory, delayed recall, and recollective experience. However, debate continues regarding the patterns of preservation and impairment across a range of abilities, including semantic memory and learning, delayed recognition, working memory, and imagination. This brief review highlights some of the influential and recent advances in these debates and what they may tell us about the amnesic condition and hippocampal function

Rapidly Measuring the Speed of Unconscious Learning: Amnesics Learn Quickly and Happy People Slowly

BACKGROUND We introduce a method for quickly determining the rate of implicit learning. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The task involves making a binary prediction for a probabilistic sequence over 10 minutes; from this it is possible to determine the influence of events of a different number of trials in the past on the current decision. This profile directly reflects the learning rate parameter of a large class of learning algorithms including the delta and Rescorla-Wagner rules. To illustrate the use of the method, we compare a person with amnesia with normal controls and we compare people with induced happy and sad moods. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Learning on the task is likely both associative and implicit. We argue theoretically and demonstrate empirically that both amnesia and also transient negative moods can be associated with an especially large learning rate: People with amnesia can learn quickly and happy people slowl