Thickening descriptions with views from pragmatism and anthropology

How can we as biological systems that are self-organizing and constantly adapting make sense of our surroundings? How can the rich connections between organisms and environment lead to our particular lifeworlds, lifeworlds that allow individual experiences and that are themselves constantly changing in reaction to them? This commentary suggests, extending the framework provided by Scott Jordan and Brian Day, an integration of recent neuroscientific evidence with perspectives from pragmatism, anthropology, and phenomenological thought. Much experimental evidence demonstrates that human beings are systems comprised of a brain as part of a body and an environment, which is constantly regulating and adapting. This evidence resonates with reasoning from pragmatism and anthropology that describe the continuous, dynamic interaction of mind, body, and world. Employing those various perspectives leads to a dense description of human experience and cognition that specifies details and patterns, which considers contextual factors that allow us to enrich human self-understanding, and which aids attempts to answer the questions raised at the beginning of this pape

Thickening descriptions with views from pragmatism and anthropology : a commentary on J. Scott & Brian Day

How can we as biological systems that are self-organizing and constantly adapting make sense of our surroundings? How can the rich connections between organisms and environment lead to our particular lifeworlds, lifeworlds that allow individual experiences and that are themselves constantly changing in reaction to them? This commentary suggests, extending the framework provided by Scott Jordan and Brian Day, an integration of recent neuroscientific evidence with perspectives from pragmatism, anthropology, and phenomenological thought. Much experimental evidence demonstrates that human beings are systems comprised of a brain as part of a body and an environment, which is constantly regulating and adapting. This evidence resonates with reasoning from pragmatism and anthropology that describe the continuous, dynamic interaction of mind, body, and world. Employing those various perspectives leads to a dense description of human experience and cognition that specifies details and patterns, which considers contextual factors that allow us to enrich human self-understanding, and which aids attempts to answer the questions raised at the beginning of this paper

Representing Human Cultural and Biological Diversity in Neuropsychiatry: Why and How

Over the past decade, findings from cultural neuroscience have demonstrated that functional neural processes vary significantly across populations. These findings add a new dimension to the well-established literature describing cultural differences in human behavior. Although these findings are informative for understanding complex relationships between social and neurobiological processes, they also have significant implications for psychiatric research. Neuropsychiatry already co-considers the relationship between brain and social world; however, its research findings notoriously underrepresent diverse cultural, ethnic, and gender groups. Considering that psychiatric patients across cultures exhibit different behavioral presentations and symptom distributions, they may exhibit equally different functional neural processes as well. Increasing representation of diverse patient groups in neuropsychiatric research would allow potential differences to be investigated and understood. Although cross-cultural comparisons may be the most direct means of accomplishing this goal, such studies must be carefully constructed to avoid reinforcing stigmas or stereotypes when working with sensitive patient populations. For example, hypotheses and inclusion criteria must avoid reliance on stereotypes or conflation of geographic boundaries with cultural boundaries. These pitfalls point to deeper problems with current approaches to culture-brain research, which lack operational definitions of ‘culture’ more generally. After outlining these issues, solutions to these methodological problems will be presented and an operational definition of culture for neuropsychiatry will be proposed

Starke Identifikation in den Kinodramen von Urban Gad (1911-15)

Es geht um die Frage, welche Gründe und Umstände den Erfolg des Monopolfilm-Gespanns Gad/Nielsen bedingten. Waren die Leinwandgeschichten des dänischen Regisseurs von besonderem Einfallsreichtum geprägt oder verdankte Gad seinen Erfolg dem grazilen Auftreten seiner Hauptdarstellerin Asta Nielsen und einem sensationshungrigen Publikum, das kurz zuvor noch scharenweise in die Varietés und Wanderkinos geströmt war? Im ersten Abschnitt des dritten Kapitels werden die beiden Hauptverantwortlichen der relevanten Filme, Urban Gad und Asta Nielsen, das Ausmaß ihrer Zusammenarbeit und ihr Einfluss auf die Filmwerbung vorgestellt. Die Frage, wem für die künstlerische Umsetzung der Drehbücher Respekt zollt, kann dabei nur oberflächlich beantwortet werden. In Kapitel 3.2 folgt eine bündige Zusammenfassung über die Entstehung des längeren Spielfilms. Kurze Vergleiche zu den Ergebnissen der Gießener Programmanalyse sowie Loiperdingers Erforschung des bahnbrechenden Einflusses von ABGRÜNDE auf die Werbemittel der Kinobesitzer unterstützen eine argumentative Verbindung zum Wesen und zur gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung der Institution Kino im Allgemeinen. Begriffe wie „Zeitspiegel“, „Schaulust“ und „Identifikationsfläche“ fallen. Es stellt sich in diesem Zusammenhang die Frage, was die Faszination des Kinematographen ausmachte und wieso er als kulturelle Einrichtung bis heute erhalten blieb. Gründe für den Erfolg der Institution Kino werden in der unterstützenden Kraft für die Schnelllebigkeit des beginnenden Industriezeitalters gesehen. Alle vier bis sechs Wochen kam mit dem Monopolsystem ein neuer Nielsen-Film in die Kinos. Während der Sommerflaute wurden sie erneut ins Programm genommen. Elsaesser weist innerhalb seiner Überlegungen zum Kino auf den Begriff der „Zerstreuung“ als „Wahrnehmungsmodus“ hin. ABGRÜNDE galt als Initialzündung für die Etablierung des Monopolfilms und die Geburt des kommerzialisierten Starsystems am Beispiel Asta Nielsen. Ihr „Präsentations-Mehrwert“ begründete eine neugeschaffene Art des Marketings. Das Publikum des frühen Kinos vergrößerte sich nachweislich auch durch die sozialen Dramen mit der dänischen Schauspielerin und bekam durch ihren Facettenreichtum eine große Identifikationsfläche für innere Triebe, Sehnsüchte und gesellschaftliche Konflikte geboten. Das vierte Kapitel geht detailliert auf sechs ausgewählte Kinodramen Urban Gads aus der Zeit von 1911 bis 1914 ein und untersucht diese auf Identifikationsmöglichkeiten des zeitgenössischen (weiblichen) Publikums hin. Es soll deutlich werden, wo die thematischen Schwerpunkte in den Filmen von Urban Gad ab 1911 zu finden sind, inwieweit es sich bei dem dargestellten Milieu gegebenenfalls um einen Zeitspiegel handelt und wo die Rolle der Frau sowohl im Film als auch in der Rezeption zu verorten ist. Das Motiv der weiblichen Selbstbestimmung soll speziell anhand der spezifischen Filmanalysen von DER FREMDE VOGEL und anderen Kinodramen Gads deutlich werden. Folgende Fragen begleiten die Analyse: Welche Psychologie wird durch die von Asta Nielsen verkörperten Figuren sichtbar? Wer trifft die Entscheidung der weiblichen Hauptfigur zwischen Lust und Pflicht? Die Darstellung der einzelnen Filme mag stellenweise verstärkt deskriptiv sein. Weil die Kenntnis des Inhalts nicht als gegeben vorausgesetzt werden kann und es dem Verständnis der analytischen Details dient, war es die Intension der Autorin, den szenischen Kontext in seiner Genauigkeit wiederzugeben. Die Aufgabe in Kapitel 4.2 besteht darin, Gemeinsamkeiten und Individualität der sechs weiblichen Hauptfiguren zu präzisieren. Folgende Fragen sollen beantwortet werden: Welches sind die wesentlichen Konflikte, mit denen sich die Frauen konfrontiert sehen? Lassen sich Gads Überlegungen zur Figurenkonstellation, Wirkung der Hauptfigur und Bedeutung des Filmtitels in seiner praktischen Filmarbeit belegen? Im fünften Kapitel liegt der Fokus auf dem Gießener Kinoprogramm, das sich jedoch zweifellos nicht als repräsentativ versteht. Vielmehr wurden einzelne Anzeigen ab 28. Januar 1911 aus dem Gießener Anzeiger (Generalanzeiger für Oberhessen) gesichtet, die aufzeigen, mit welcher Verzögerung im Vergleich zur Berliner Uraufführung die für den gegenwärtigen Forschungskorpus relevanten Gad-Filme in den Gießener Kinos Kinematograph, Biograph, Bakofs Kammerlichtspiele u.a. liefen, welche Spieldauer sich nachweisen lässt und wie stark die Kinodramen beworben wurden. Die Einbeziehung der Gießener Lokalstudie liegt im Interesse der Autorin begründet, die theoretische Faszination um das Gesicht der erfolgreichen Filme von Urban Gad anhand primärer Quellen zur Programmierung der Dramen in einem praxisorientierten Abschnitt nachzuzeichnen. Hier wird noch einmal prägnant das Besondere der Gad-Filme herausgestellt, das Individuelle der einzelnen Hauptfiguren erklärt und verständlich gemacht, wie es dem Regisseur und der Akteurin gelang, mit ihren Filmen den "Nerv der Zeit" zu treffen.This thesis seeks to understand the reasons underlying the success of the Monopole filmstars Urban Gad and Asta Nielsen. It asks the questions "Did the Danish director invent these interesting characters or was the success due to the aura of the main actress Asta Nielsen? What role does the public play - were they still looking for sensationalism, considering that the period of vaudeville shows and travelling movie shows were only recently a thing of the past?" The third chapter deals with the two main characters of the analyzed movies, Urban Gad and Asta Nielsen, their collaboration and the influence of their cooperation on film, advertising and publicity. Who shall be claimed as responsible for the artistic value of those movies, the actress or the director? Next, the thesis highlights the rising of the feature film, especially the ―drama, and is summarized. There are small comparisons to the results of an investigation within the local cinema program of Gießen (north of Frankfurt) as well as Loiperdinger´s research on the ground-breaking influence of ABYSS (Urban Gad, 1910) which discusses how film advertising supports the argumentative connection with the character and acceptance of the institution cinema in general. Movies of that time can be linked with expressions like ―curiosity, ―empathy and ―Zeitspiegel. It raises the issue why cinema was so fascinating in this time (1910-1915) and why films and cinema still exist as a cultural establishment. Reasons for the triumph of the cinema are seen in the supporting power that the hasty living at the start of the industrial era produced. With the Monopole system every four to six weeks a new movie with Asta Nielsen premiered. During the summer season they were shown retrospectively. Elsaesser is pointing out the concept of distraction as a mode of perception. ABYSS is meant to be the priming for the establishment of the Monopole film and the birth of the commercialized star system was instigated because of the star quality represented by Asta Nielsen. Her additional benefit founded a newly creative way of marketing and sales promotion. The audience of the early cinema grew verifiable also by the ―social drama with the Danish leading actress. Thanks to the different facets she performed in numerous roles, Nielsen offered a wide range of possible identifiers of desire, conflict and inner drive. The fourth chapter presents the analysis of six feature films by Urban Gad between 1911 and 1915. The focus is the possibility of identification for a (female) audience. Gad´s focal points will become apparent. To what extent can the social environment presented be understood as a reflection of the times? Where do the movies locate the female role within the film and the reception of the film as a product? The motive of female self-determination, especially, is articulated clearly with the help of the specific analysis of movies like THE STRANGE BIRD (―Der fremde Vogel) and other movies of Urban Gad with Asta Nielsen. The following questions accompany the investigation: Which psychology does the actress make visible with the roles she performs? Who makes the decision for the female leading role between lust and duty? The representation of the single movies might be quite descriptive at some points. As the knowledge of the content can´t be assumed and as it supports the comprehension of the analytical details, the author intended to reproduce the scenic context in its exactness. The goal of chapter 4.2 is to define the parallels and the individuality of the six female leading roles. The questions on the fundamental conflicts of the women and the accordance of Gad´s ideas on the constellation of the main characters in a movie, impact of the main role on the audience and the meaning of a film´s title that he described in his work ―Der Film, seine Mittel, seine Ziele- shall be answered. Did he fulfill his theoretical ideas in his work as a director? The fifth chapter puts the focus on the program of cinemas in Gießen. It is not to be seen as strictly representative. In fact the author collected advertisements from the years 1911 to 1916 from the local newspaper Gießener Anzeiger to show the degree of reluctance in premiering Gad´s films compared to the movie capital Berlin. How many days did those dramas stay on the schedule of cinemas like Kinematograph, Biograph, Bakofs Kammerlichtspiele and others? How marketable did the movies seem to be compared to those of other directors? By including the local cinema culture of my hometown I want to underline the fascination of the actress Asta Nielsen and that her roles written by Urban Gad had a practical part. The features of Gad´s movies, the individuality of every female starring role will highlight how Gad and Nielsen managed to produce films that the public were seeking for their times

Sensory Augmentation for the Blind

Common navigational aids used by blind travelers during large-scale navigation divert attention away from important cues of the immediate environment (i.e., approaching vehicles). Sensory augmentation devices, relying on principles similar to those at work in sensory substitution, can potentially bypass the bottleneck of attention through sub-cognitive implementation of a set of rules coupling motor actions with sensory stimulation. We provide a late blind subject with a vibrotactile belt that continually signals the direction of magnetic north. The subject completed a set of behavioral tests before and after an extended training period. The tests were complemented by questionnaires and interviews. This newly supplied information improved performance on different time scales. In a pointing task we demonstrate an instant improvement of performance based on the signal provided by the device. Furthermore, the signal was helpful in relevant daily tasks, often complicated for the blind, such as keeping a direction over longer distances or taking shortcuts in familiar environments. A homing task with an additional attentional load demonstrated a significant improvement after training. The subject found the directional information highly expedient for the adjustment of his inner maps of familiar environments and describes an increase in his feeling of security when exploring unfamiliar environments with the belt. The results give evidence for a firm integration of the newly supplied signals into the behavior of this late blind subject with better navigational performance and more courageous behavior in unfamiliar environments. Most importantly, the complementary information provided by the belt lead to a positive emotional impact with enhanced feeling of security. The present experimental approach demonstrates the positive potential of sensory augmentation devices for the help of handicapped people

ASXL1 mutations predict inferior molecular response to nilotinib treatment in chronic myeloid leukemia

Gene mutations independent of BCR::ABL1 have been identified in newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, whereby mutations in epigenetic modifier genes were most common. These findings prompted the systematic analysis of prevalence, dynamics, and prognostic significance of such mutations, in a clinically well-characterized patient population of 222 CML patients from the TIGER study (CML-V) by targeted next-generation sequencing covering 54 myeloid leukemia-associated genes. In total, 53/222 CML patients (24%) carried 60 mutations at diagnosis with ASXL1 being most commonly affected (n = 20). To study mutation dynamics, longitudinal deep sequencing analysis of serial samples was performed in 100 patients after 12, 24, and 36 months of therapy. Typical patterns of clonal evolution included eradication, persistence, and emergence of mutated clones. Patients carrying an ASXL1 mutation at diagnosis showed a less favorable molecular response to nilotinib treatment, as a major molecular response (MMR) was achieved less frequently at month 12, 18, and 24 compared to all other patients. Patients with ASXL1 mutations were also younger and more frequently found in the high risk category, suggesting a central role of clonal evolution associated with ASXL1 mutations in CML pathogenesis

Acting up: An approach to the study of cognitive development

International audienceDespite decades of research, we lack a comprehensive framework to study and explain cognitive development. The emerging " paradigm " of action-based cognition implies that cognitive development is an active rather than a passive, automatic, and self-paced maturational process. Importantly, " active " refers to both sensorimotor activity (in the narrow sense) as well as to autonomous exploration (e.g., as found in active perception or active learning). How does this emphasis on action affect our understanding of cog-nitive development? Can an action-based approach provide a much-needed integrative theory of cognitive development? This chapter reviews key factors that infl uence development (including sensorimo-tor skills as well as genetic, social, and cultural factors) and their associated brain mechanisms. Discussion focuses on how these factors can be incorporated into a comprehensive action-based framework. Challenges are highlighted for future research (e.g., problems associated with explaining higher-level cognitive abilities and devising novel experimental methodologies). Although still in its infancy, an action-based approach to cognitive development holds promise to improve scientifi c understanding of cognitive development and to impact education and technology