Confirming a Hunch: Do People Seek Information to Confirm Their Inferences?

Generalization is an important facet of memory that allows an individual to apply previous experiences to new situations. Acquired equivalence is one type of generalization: after learning two items share one association (e.g., Shawn and Cait live near Lake Michigan), people assume those items also share other associations (e.g., Shawn water skis, so Cait does too). Some have proposed that inferred associations (Cait-water ski) are represented in memory the same way as direct associations (Shawn-Lake, Cait-Lake, Shawn-water ski). However, it is also possible that inferences are treated differently since they have not been confirmed by direct experience. In the present study we asked, do individuals seek to confirm their inferences? To address this question, we designed an acquired equivalence task based on the board game Clue. Participants were instructed to learn details, such as the suspect, location, and object used during a crime. During the study phase, participants were shown face – scene and face – object associations. Each scene was associated with two faces (face 1, face 2), serving as the link between those individuals. Only face 1 was associated with an object during study. To determine whether individuals seek to confirm inferences, participants chose one of the face and object/scene pairs to learn more about. If participants seek to confirm their inferences, they should choose to learn more information about the face2-object pairing. Results show that participants make the face 2 – object inference at above-chance levels, but this association is weaker than for directly learned pairings. However, participants do not choose to learn more about inferred associations when given the opportunity. Instead, they often choose to learn more about their best learned direct association. Thus, individuals may not take the opportunity to reinforce their inferences or other weakly learned information and instead choose to re-study already-learned information

The Sandbox

The Sandbox is a novel in progress. It is a supernatural horror story set in the air traffic control radar room at Denver International Airport. It revolves around three air traffic controllers at varying stages of their careers, one in his thirties, one in his forties, and one in his fifties. This submission consists of a prologue and chapters one, two and four of the work, which introduce the characters to the reader, including one anonymous character, and set the pace, tone, and mood of the story. Ultimately, the reader witnesses how each of these controllers responds privately and outwardly to egregious, paranormal occurrences which intrude upon them during their high-stress, on-the-air job functions

Surrealism: a Marxist Enterprise in 1930s London

This dissertation, a presentation of institutional and personal histories, considers how the British surrealists used varied media from found objects and fashion to film, special exhibitions and events, and commercial advertising in their attempt to revolutionize British capitalist society in the nineteen thirties. With writers Herbert Read and David Gascoyne as their leading spokespersons, the British surrealists advocated a Marxist social revolution when they formed as a group in 1936. Yet, throughout the late thirties, the Marxist aims of British surrealism were often lost on patrons, and questioned by communist and conservative critics responding to the artworks. In chapter one, I suggest this was the case because the sensational and playful antics, and the highly varied and sometimes abstract surrealist art associated with the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London did not convey the same direct political message contained in the surrealists' written statements. To build this argument, I consider artworks produced by the group including: Eileen Agar, Gascoyne, Henry Moore, and Paul Nash. Chapter two focuses on Agar to show how the surrealists' demands for social change were based as much on advocating creative freedom and independence from established social norms, as they were on Marx's ideas about social progress. Like many of the English surrealists, Agar's bourgeois background and humanitarian commitment to a Popular Front against fascism defined the content of her art more than any statements advocating a proletarian revolution that she willingly signed. To further explore the political compromises faced by the British surrealists and their diversity of artistic styles and media to promote social change, chapter three considers two promotional films: The Birth of the Robot directed by Len Lye for Shell Mex and B.P. Oil, and Spare Time directed by Humphrey Jennings for the government run General Post Office (G.P.O.) Film Unit. To focus on the British surrealists' greatest success in raising awareness about the Spanish Civil War, chapter four appraises how Roland Penrose, E. L. T. Mesens, Read, and others brought Picasso's Guernica to England in late 1938, promoting it as a prime example of how surrealism could indeed embody political ideals

Prognostic impact of micrometastasis in patients with esophageal cancer

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the esophagus and adenocarcinoma of the esophago-gastric junction (AEG) are diseases with poor prognosis. Despite radical surgery having been carried out, many patients are at risk of cancer recurrence, especially with the presence of metastases in the lymph nodes. The study involved 60 patients suffering from SCC and AEG who had lymph nodes surgically removed between 2012 and 2018. Only lymph nodes with N0 status were subjected to immunohistochemistry examination. Histopathological criteria were used for the diagnosis of micrometastases (MM), defined as tumor cells or cell clusters of 0.2–2 mm diameter in the lymph node and tumor cell microinvolvement defined as free-floating neoplastic cells or cell clusters within the sub-capsular sinus or intramedullary sinuses of the lymph node. A total of 1130 lymph nodes were removed during surgery, with an average of 22 lymph nodes per patient (range 8–58). Micrometastases were found in 7 (11.66%) patients: 6 (10.0%) with AEG and 1 (1.66%) with SCC, representing a statistically significant difference p = 0.017. Multivariate analysis of the study group did not confirm the dependence of the MM on the T features ( p = 0.7) or G ( p = 0.5). In a Cox regression analysis, MM were not a risk factor for death, HR: 2.57 (0.95; 7.00), p = 0.064. There was no difference in overall survival for patients with MM (N (+)) and those without (N0), p = 0.055, but there was a statistically significant difference in time of relapse between patients with and without MM ( p = 0.049). Patients with the N (+) status are at high risk of cancer recurrence, and therefore we believe that complementary treatment should be considered in this group