Hemispheric processing of memory is affected by sleep

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Sleep is known to affect learning and memory, but the extent to which it influences behavioural processing in the left and right hemispheres of the brain is as yet unknown. We tested two hypotheses about lateralised effects of sleep on recognition memory for words: whether sleep reactivated recent experiences of words promoting access to the long-term store in the left hemisphere (LH), and whether sleep enhanced spreading activation differentially in semantic networks in the hemispheres. In Experiment 1, participants viewed lists of semantically related words, then slept or stayed awake for 12 h before being tested on seen, unseen but related, or unrelated words presented to the left or the right hemisphere. Sleep was found to promote word recognition in the LH, and to spread activation equally within semantic networks in both hemispheres. Experiment 2 ensured that the results were not due to time of day effects influencing cognitive performance

Conflict, Complexity, and Cooperation

This article explores the thesis that we are at a time of historical inflection and suggests what next steps might look like. The change in the seat of authority from the sixteenth century on with the replacement of political and religious hierarchies by participatory democracy and Enlightenment philosophies based on rationalism has seen a remarkable period of progress in science, technology, education, medicine, governance, trade, economics, and the rule of law. The twenty-first century, however, has ushered in a series of reversals for liberal democracy, the fraying of the international rules-based order that emerged after the two world wars and a collapse of public confidence in the institutions and methods based on the rationalist approach. The article suggests that the old forms are dissolving and that the time has come for the emergence of a new paradigm and proposes that three developments may point toward the next evolutionary way station: the emergence of complexity science, an appreciation that our emotions are a positive evolutionary advantage rather than a flaw to be overcome, and a focus on relationships rather than simply on individuals

Mental hospitals and the public: the need for closer co-operation

In this address I have tried to put in words some small things achieved— or, perhaps it were better put, on the way to being achieved— which are designed to improve the lot of the mentally afflicted person, to soften the attitude of the “group mind” commonly called “the public” towards him, to find for him a place with in the community during his necessary segregation as we do those sick in body, and not one outside of it, or on the fringe of it, estranged from the world as though he were a pariah or outlaw; to improve and facilitate his treatment by bringing in the wake of the psychiatrist the great body of medical science to bear upon his infirmity, both at the earliest possible moment; and finally, on his recovery, to welcome him back to full citizenship, and to find him suitable work so that he may live and thrive - which is the birthright of all men.1. The “group mind” defined and described, and then compared in respect of ancient, medieval and modern times, especially in its attitude to mental disorders and those mentally afflicted.2. Arguments in support of the proposition that the public attitude to the latter is in a measure atavistic and regressive and still strongly tainted with medievalism3. Why does the public view mental hospitals differently from general hospitals? An answer is attempted : Historical research in regard to both kinds of hospitals— origin the same. History of the treatment of mental disorders in ancient and medieval times sketched. Lecky and the first hospital or infirmary supported by public subscriptions. Reasons for supposing that the public hospital system received its greatest impetus from the establishment of the hospitals of the Order of Knight Hospitallers. The word “ asylum ” defined and the history of its use given. Its use as regards the insane not so proper in these days as “ hospital.” The word “ hospital ” defined and the history of its use given. History of the voluntary general hospital system in England from the 11th century. More detailed and critical history: The history of a failure to found an adequate voluntary mental hospital system from 1750 onwards and why— again the group mind still infected with medieval thought a cause. The renaissance of psychiatry in Europe. Pioneer work of John Howard and Lord Shaftesbury and the late 18th and early 19th century psychiatrists. Estrangement of mental and general hospitals never so marked in Scotland. This estrangement regarded as a calamity and to have retarded progress in psychiatry.4. Future prospects : Importance of the admission of voluntary patients to all mental institutions; of affiliation and reciprocity between mental and general hospitals; of mental clinics; and of a closer practical union between psychiatry and general medicine.5. What the public ought to know about the mind and mental disorders and how it can be best disseminated.6. W hat the public ought to know about mental hospitals and how it can be best disseminated.7. Author’s views regarding (5) and (6) adopted and how disseminated by the largest local lunacy authority in the Em pire among relatives and friends of mental patients.8. The attitude of the Press to mental disorders and mental institutions criticized as retarding enlightenment and progress.9. Isolation of mental institutions deplored. The causes of it and its effects.10. W hat mental hospitals n eed : Mental hospitals not entirely “ closed ” institutions and why they can never be entirely “ open” institutions.11 . Solution of the isolated position of mental hospitals to be found in the appointment of independent, unofficial, and voluntary hospital visitors as an intermediary between patients and their homes. Author describes how he originated this movement in 1921, its adoption by the London County Council and other local lunacy authorities, and recently recommended for general adoption by the Royal Commission on Lunacy, etc.12. Psychiatrical field work and workers. The dynamic approach to treatment the only sound and successful one. The necessity for environmental investigation in regard to mental disorders and history-taking.13. Report of a hospital visitor and psychiatric field worker.14-. Author’s views generally and in some instances specifically confirmed by the findings of the Royal Commission on Lunacy, etc

Why We Have the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict in Oxford

The Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC) was formally established at Harris Manchester College by a decision of the Governing Body of the College in 2013 to facilitate research, teaching and training, seminars and conferences, and direct engagement in situations of political violence and long-standing community conflict in various parts of the world. The CRIC is a very young institution, but already it is having an impact out of proportion to its size and modest resources. This is because the issues we are addressing have a heightened public profile and also because of the quality and leading-edge of some of our research

The Menace of Administrative Law (1920)

Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Maryland State Bar Association, 1920