Maternidades anómalas : reproducción en la ciencia ficción cinematográfica de los años noventa

Aquest article s'ocupa d'un tema clau al cinema de ciència ficció dels anys noranta: la maternitat anòmala. Traça els seus antecedents històrics per a continuació distingir les seves principals tipologies: forçosa, monstruosa i alterada. Finalment, analitza cadascuna d'aquestes tipologies prenent com a exemple una pel·lícula representativa. El text pretén demostrar com aquests films actualitzen arguments tradicionals de la ciència ficció adaptant-los a les noves audiències.Este artículo se ocupa de un tema clave en el cine de ciencia ficción de los años noventa: la maternidad anómala. Traza sus antecedentes históricos para a continuación distinguir sus principales tipologías: forzosa, monstruosa y alterada. Por último, analiza cada una de ellas tomando como ejemplo una película representativa. El texto pretende demostrar cómo estos filmes actualizan argumentos tradicionales de la ciencia ficción adaptándolos a las nuevas audiencias.This paper focus on a key issue in science fiction film of the nineties: abnormal maternity. The article traces the historical background and then distinguish the main maternity typologies: forced, monstrous and altered. Finally, analyzes each of them taking a film as a representative example. The text aims to show how these films update traditional plots of science fiction adapted to the new audiences

Performance of a Nanometer Resolution BPM System

International Linear Collider (ILC) interaction region beam sizes and component position stability requirements will be as small as a few nanometers. It is important to the ILC design effort to demonstrate that these tolerances can be achieved ideally using beam-based stability measurements. It has been estimated that RF cavity beam position monitors (BPMs) could provide position measurement resolutions of less than one nanometer and could form the basis of the desired beam-based stability measurement. We have developed a high resolution RF cavity BPM system. A triplet of these BPMs has been installed in the extraction line of the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) for testing with its ultra-low emittance beam. The three BPMs are rigidly mounted inside an alignment frame on variable-length struts which allow movement in position and angle. We have developed novel methods for extracting the position and tilt information from the BPM signals including a calibration algorithm which is immune to beam jitter. To date, we have been able to demonstrate a resolution of approximately 20 nm over a dynamic range of +/- 20 microns. We report on the progress of these ongoing tests

Proposal of the Next Incarnation of Accelerator Test Facility at KEK for the International Linear Collider

To reach design luminosity, the International Linear Collider (ILC) must be able to create and reliably maintain nanometer size beams. The ATF damping ring is the unique facility where ILC emittances are possible. In this paper we present and evaluate the proposal to create a final focus facility at the ATF which, using compact final focus optics and an ILC-like bunch train, would be capable of achieving 37 nm beam size. Such a facility would enable the development of beam diagnostics and tuning methods, as well as the training of young accelerator physicists

The relational body: Shared body representations between a mother and infant 2013-2016

This data set contains data collected from 21 infants and their mothers, using behavioural and physiological measurement. The experiment aimed to investigate shared body representations between a mother and her infant, and consisted of two main tasks. The first, the Mother-Infant Bodily Overlap (MIBO) task, was designed to measure the extent to which an infant ‘shared’ in the tactile experiences of their mother. The task carried out with the infants took the form of a preferential looking paradigm. For each trial, infants were shown two side-by-side videos, both featuring either their mother, or an unfamiliar woman, being stroked on the cheek. The infant’s own cheek was stroked by an experimenter, in synchrony with the touch seen in one of the videos and out-of-synchrony with the touch seen in the other video. Looking times were coded to the two videos. The second task investigated the extent to which mothers shared the emotional experiences of their infant. We measured automatic facial mimicry using electromyography (EMG) recorded from the corrugator and zygomaticus muscles, whilst mothers were observing emotional expressions recorded from their infant, or from an unfamiliar infant. We also asked mothers to indicate after each video their subjective emotional experience during the expression, using a 2-dimentional Visual Analogue Scale upon which mothers rated their valence and arousal. Two other data collections have been created for this grant, Part 1 and Part 2. These can be accessed via Related Resources. Humans are fundamentally social animals. We form close relationships with others and characteristically live in small, close social groups of siblings, romantic partners, and our infants. Social psychologists have shown that the way in which we process social information from our family members and intimate partners is very different to that from strangers and acquaintances. For example, we show increased empathy when our intimate partners are in pain, mothers have enhanced detection of their own infant's cries, and we show enhanced altruism and trust for our siblings. Evolutionary psychologists argue that these distinct social behaviors serve important biological functions, such as long-term pair-bonding, child-rearing, and maintenance of kin-relationships. In evolutionary history, these processes were central to survival and reproduction. They argue that much of our social behavior in the present day still serves these functional relationships, often on an implicit level. Therefore, evolutionary psychology has provided an explanation of why these special social processes exist, appealing to their specific biological functions. However, no-one has yet provided an explanation of how we are able to process social signals from our close family and partners in this special way. We suggest that a focus on the role of the body in social cognition may enable us to understand the neurocognitive basis of these evolutionarily important social processes. The way we represent our bodies and the bodies of others plays a central role in our understanding of social signals. Evidence suggests that when we observe the bodily experiences of others, such as touch, pain, emotion and movement, we 'share' these experiences. For example, when we see someone being touched, specific areas of our brains are activated in the same way as if we were touched ourselves. This sharing of others' bodily states, also known as 'bodily overlap', might underlie a number of important social processes, such as empathy, emotion recognition, and understanding others' intentions. So far, experiments investigating this bodily overlap have only used unfamiliar others as social stimuli, and so our understanding of the role of the body in social processing is restricted to how we interact with strangers. This neglects significant others, such as family and partners. Can differences in the way we represent their bodies in relation to our own explain the enhanced empathy we have for a partner, the increased trustworthiness we see in a sibling's face, or the special ability of a mother to read her infant's emotions and needs? And if we change bodily overlap, can this affect the quality of our relationships with close others? This project will investigate the role of bodily overlap for social cognition in biologically important social relationships, focusing on relationships between siblings, mothers and infants, and partners. For each relationship, we will use a variety of experimental methods to assess bodily overlap and social processing. We will also experimentally increase bodily overlap between individuals, and see how it changes perceived relationship quality. The results of our research may have a number of diverse applications. One area which our research might impact upon is that of health and well-being. The physical and mental health benefits of close relationships and the adverse effects of family breakdown are well documented. Our research will investigate the effects of increasing bodily overlap within these relationships to improve relationship quality, and this makes our research very relevant to relationship therapies and other family interventions. We also foresee a number of applications in other areas, including the work-place, whereby our research into close adult relationships could be extended to increase our understanding of the role of the body in creating and maintaining functional and productive relationships between work colleagues.</p

Vocal Learning in Adulthood: Investigating the mechanisms of vocal imitation using MRI of the vocal tract and brain 2015-2018

This collection contains behavioural and brain activation data from 3 laboratory studies of speech imitation. Each of the three studies involved behavioural and imaging (MRI) test sessions in which participants were familiarised with novel auditory speech targets, and were asked to imitate them as closely as possible. Across the three studies, there were variations in the type of sounds imitated, and in the participant populations tested. The behavioural data in this collection contain measures of speech imitation performance, for different sound categories and at during different stages of the test session. These are expressed using selected acoustic properties of speech recordings, and based on the anatomical configurations of the vocal tract as measured with MRI. Neuroimaging data show the locations of brain activity and speech-related representations as statistical maps in normalised 3D brain space, related to the stages of speech imitation and the type of sound imitated. In addition to the three experimental studies, a database of videos depicts the dynamics of the vocal tract and the sounds of speech during the production of English sentences and syllables from 55 speakers. We are genetically programmed to acquire spoken language from our environment, and infants can master native pronunciation in multiple languages without explicit tuition. However, in adolescence and adulthood we have a limited capacity to achieve accurate pronunciation of unfamiliar languages, and even highly competent users of a language learned in adulthood might speak with a strong, non-native accent. The UK currently lies behind other EU nations in foreign language skills at school and in the workplace, therefore research into skill development has important educational and economic implications. Previous research has used functional MRI to measure how the activity of functional systems in the brain changes as new speech sounds are learned. This work has described the integration of novel speech sounds into a talker's existing speech repertoire as it becomes more familiar. Within this, however, some talkers are more successful than others at attaining native-like pronunciation of new sounds, and this variability is correlated with the activation, size and structural composition of specific brain structures. To date, the cognitive neuroscience of speech learning has assessed performance by measuring or judging the sounds of speech. However, there isn't a simple one-to-one relationship between how speech sounds in the air, and the underlying movements in the vocal tract. Therefore, an important missing piece of the puzzle is an understanding of how vocal articulations relate directly to brain activation during learning. Recent developments in MRI have shown that rapid 'real-time' anatomical scans can be used to create videos of the interior of the mouth and vocal tract, such that we can view how the lips, tongue and voice box are moved and configured to perform speech. We propose to combine real-time MRI with measures of brain structure and function to investigate the relationship between brain and behaviour during the learning of new speech sounds. Our project will focus on short-term learning of novel and unfamiliar vocal sounds by native speakers of English, where the participants will aim to imitate the sounds accurately and with native-like pronunciation. In an MRI scanner, listeners will repeatedly produce these novel sounds, as well as native sounds of English, while scans of the brain will measure neural activity. Interleaved with these scans, we will collect real-time images of the vocal articulators during imitation. Acoustic recordings will be made using an in-scanner microphone, and we will additionally collect high-resolution images of brain structure from each participant. With these data, we will investigate vocal learning in terms of i) the functional brain systems supporting learning, ii) the acoustic accuracy of vocal output and iii) the accuracy of the movements generating the sounds, as well as the relationship between these elements. Further, we can explore how individuals differ in their performance of vocal learning in terms of meeting these acoustic and motor targets, and how this relates to their brain structure and function. Across a series of experiments, we will also investigate how novel sounds are sequenced into new words, and assess the effects of expertise on vocal learning by comparing English speakers with vocal performance experts. Our proposed approach is truly novel, with potential to make groundbreaking developments in the cognitive neuroscience of vocal communication. To deliver the project, we have assembled a uniquely qualified research team with shared and individual expertise in phonetics, cognitive neuroscience and MRI. The data will directly inform our understanding of language learning and accent acquisition. Further, our new methodology has potential future application to other questions, such as the assessment of brain and behaviour relationships in patients with speech impairments following brain injury.</p

The consequences of inattention for visual and tactile stimulus detection and discrimination

This collection contains data from 10 experiments. The research involved the collection of anonymised behavioural performance data (including reaction times, response accuracies and/or verbal responses) from groups of human observers. Brief descriptions of the experiments are provided, along with a separate data file and protocol for each experiment. Each file contains a summary sheet detailing the averages of the performance measures collected for each participant, as well as subsequent sheets containing the raw data and the formulae used to calculate the averages. The information that we receive through the sense of touch can be extremely important, in indicating that a stimulus has already made contact with the body and may thus require an immediate response. For example, although the sight and sound of a mosquito suggests that you may soon be bitten, the feeling of it landing on your skin signals that this risk has substantially increased! Given this high level of importance, one might assume that tactile stimuli would be detected with very high priority, perhaps to the extent that they could attract our attention even when we are engaged in another demanding task. However, in contrast to this assumption, intriguing preliminary findings suggest that the absence of attention can in fact leave people open to 'inattentional numbness', whereby they completely miss tactile stimuli that are otherwise clearly noticeable (Mack and Rock, 1998). Indeed, although it is possible to feel a mosquito landing on the skin, many of us have also suffered the consequences of not doing so successfully, perhaps experiencing 'inattentional numbness' through focusing attention on an absorbing book or a delicious meal. Pickpockets may deliberately exploit this tendency, bumping into someone on one side in order to draw attention away from a pocket on the other side from which they are stealing a wallet. The current project will investigate this exciting phenomenon of 'inattentional numbness' and will use it to address several important theoretical issues within the field of tactile attention research. First, we will examine the priority with which an unexpected touch can attract attention. An influential theory in this area ('perceptual load theory', see Lavie, 2010, for review) predicts that people are less likely to notice unexpected stimuli when they are engaged in a demanding task than when they are engaged in an undemanding task. This prediction has never before been tested within touch. It therefore remains possible that tactile stimuli might be processed with such high priority that they are detected even when the ongoing task is highly demanding. We will use the 'inattentional numbness' paradigm to provide a formal test of whether people are less likely to notice unexpected tactile stimuli when they are engaged in a demanding task. This work is important both in furthering our understanding of the detection of unexpected tactile stimuli and in providing the first test of perceptual load theory within touch. Next, we will move our research into a more multisensory context, in order to bring it closer to real-world situations in which information is received simultaneously through more than one sensory modality. We will ask whether paying attention to a tactile task can reduce detection of auditory and/or visual stimuli and also whether detection of tactile stimuli might be affected by a concurrent visual or auditory attention task. As well as extending the inattention paradigm to reflect more lifelike situations, this research will contribute to the important theoretical debate over whether processing resources are shared between sensory modalities or kept distinct between modalities (see Driver and Spence, 2004, for review). As well as contributing to theoretical understanding in a range of areas, the findings from our project will have many potential applications to real life situations. The process of detecting and responding to unexpected tactile stimuli is important in a range of situations. For example, tactile warning signals have for a long time been used in aircraft cockpits (where the 'stick shaker' is used to warn pilots of an impending stall) and they are increasingly being introduced to domestic cars (several of which now use tactile stimuli as part of lane deviation warning systems). Investigations of 'inattentional numbness' are therefore likely to have a wide range of important practical implications, in areas as diverse as interface design and accident investigation.</p

The relational body: Automatic motor imitation in romantic relationships

This data collection contains data reported in Maister, L., & Tsakiris, M. (2016). Intimate imitation: Automatic motor imitation in romantic relationships. Cognition, 152, 108-113. This experiment investigated automatic motor mimicry between individuals in romantic relationships. 19 adults were tested. They completed one experimental task, in which they were asked to perform mouth-open or mouth-closed actions upon a computer cue, whilst watching videos of their partner or a close friend performing the same or opposite action. Reaction times were measured using facial electromyography (EMG). Participants also completed two questionnaires designed to provide a measure of their adult attachment quality with both their partner and their friend (‘Relationship Structures Questionnaire of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-RS)’). The data reflect mimicry scores, based on EMG reaction times, and questionnaire responses. Two other data collections have been created for this grant, Part 1 and Part 3. These can be accessed via Related Resources. Humans are fundamentally social animals. We form close relationships with others and characteristically live in small, close social groups of siblings, romantic partners, and our infants. Social psychologists have shown that the way in which we process social information from our family members and intimate partners is very different to that from strangers and acquaintances. For example, we show increased empathy when our intimate partners are in pain, mothers have enhanced detection of their own infant's cries, and we show enhanced altruism and trust for our siblings. Evolutionary psychologists argue that these distinct social behaviors serve important biological functions, such as long-term pair-bonding, child-rearing, and maintenance of kin-relationships. In evolutionary history, these processes were central to survival and reproduction. They argue that much of our social behavior in the present day still serves these functional relationships, often on an implicit level. Therefore, evolutionary psychology has provided an explanation of why these special social processes exist, appealing to their specific biological functions. However, no-one has yet provided an explanation of how we are able to process social signals from our close family and partners in this special way. We suggest that a focus on the role of the body in social cognition may enable us to understand the neurocognitive basis of these evolutionarily important social processes. The way we represent our bodies and the bodies of others plays a central role in our understanding of social signals. Evidence suggests that when we observe the bodily experiences of others, such as touch, pain, emotion and movement, we 'share' these experiences. For example, when we see someone being touched, specific areas of our brains are activated in the same way as if we were touched ourselves. This sharing of others' bodily states, also known as 'bodily overlap', might underlie a number of important social processes, such as empathy, emotion recognition, and understanding others' intentions. So far, experiments investigating this bodily overlap have only used unfamiliar others as social stimuli, and so our understanding of the role of the body in social processing is restricted to how we interact with strangers. This neglects significant others, such as family and partners. Can differences in the way we represent their bodies in relation to our own explain the enhanced empathy we have for a partner, the increased trustworthiness we see in a sibling's face, or the special ability of a mother to read her infant's emotions and needs? And if we change bodily overlap, can this affect the quality of our relationships with close others? This project will investigate the role of bodily overlap for social cognition in biologically important social relationships, focusing on relationships between siblings, mothers and infants, and partners. For each relationship, we will use a variety of experimental methods to assess bodily overlap and social processing. We will also experimentally increase bodily overlap between individuals, and see how it changes perceived relationship quality. The results of our research may have a number of diverse applications. One area which our research might impact upon is that of health and well-being. The physical and mental health benefits of close relationships and the adverse effects of family breakdown are well documented. Our research will investigate the effects of increasing bodily overlap within these relationships to improve relationship quality, and this makes our research very relevant to relationship therapies and other family interventions. We also foresee a number of applications in other areas, including the work-place, whereby our research into close adult relationships could be extended to increase our understanding of the role of the body in creating and maintaining functional and productive relationships between work colleagues.</p

The relational body: Looking at one's partner increases interoceptive accuracy

This data collection contains data used for the peer-reviewed research article 'You Fill My Heart: Looking at One's Partner Increases Interoceptive Accuracy' by Lara Maister, Lilla Hodossy and Manos Tsakiris, due to be published in 'Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice'. The study investigates the effects of viewing a romantic partner on interoceptive accuracy (IAcc). IAcc was measured using a heartbeat-counting paradigm, under three conditions; observing a romantic partner's face, their own face, or a blank screen (baseline). IAcc data takes the form of 'accuracy scores' calculated as the proportion of true heartbeats correctly counted across a set time-period (ranging from 0-1). Each participant has 3 IAcc scores. They also completed a 36-item Experience in Close Relationships, Revised (ECR-R) Questionnaire (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000) which provides two subscores; anxious attachment and avoidant attachment. Several items of demographic data were also collected; these were comprised of gender, length of current relationship, and BMI (relevant for IAcc). Two other data collections have been created for this grant, Part 2 and Part 3. These can be accessed via Related Resources. Humans are fundamentally social animals. We form close relationships with others and characteristically live in small, close social groups of siblings, romantic partners, and our infants. Social psychologists have shown that the way in which we process social information from our family members and intimate partners is very different to that from strangers and acquaintances. For example, we show increased empathy when our intimate partners are in pain, mothers have enhanced detection of their own infant's cries, and we show enhanced altruism and trust for our siblings. Evolutionary psychologists argue that these distinct social behaviors serve important biological functions, such as long-term pair-bonding, child-rearing, and maintenance of kin-relationships. In evolutionary history, these processes were central to survival and reproduction. They argue that much of our social behavior in the present day still serves these functional relationships, often on an implicit level. Therefore, evolutionary psychology has provided an explanation of why these special social processes exist, appealing to their specific biological functions. However, no-one has yet provided an explanation of how we are able to process social signals from our close family and partners in this special way. We suggest that a focus on the role of the body in social cognition may enable us to understand the neurocognitive basis of these evolutionarily important social processes. The way we represent our bodies and the bodies of others plays a central role in our understanding of social signals. Evidence suggests that when we observe the bodily experiences of others, such as touch, pain, emotion and movement, we 'share' these experiences. For example, when we see someone being touched, specific areas of our brains are activated in the same way as if we were touched ourselves. This sharing of others' bodily states, also known as 'bodily overlap', might underlie a number of important social processes, such as empathy, emotion recognition, and understanding others' intentions. So far, experiments investigating this bodily overlap have only used unfamiliar others as social stimuli, and so our understanding of the role of the body in social processing is restricted to how we interact with strangers. This neglects significant others, such as family and partners. Can differences in the way we represent their bodies in relation to our own explain the enhanced empathy we have for a partner, the increased trustworthiness we see in a sibling's face, or the special ability of a mother to read her infant's emotions and needs? And if we change bodily overlap, can this affect the quality of our relationships with close others? This project will investigate the role of bodily overlap for social cognition in biologically important social relationships, focusing on relationships between siblings, mothers and infants, and partners. For each relationship, we will use a variety of experimental methods to assess bodily overlap and social processing. We will also experimentally increase bodily overlap between individuals, and see how it changes perceived relationship quality. The results of our research may have a number of diverse applications. One area which our research might impact upon is that of health and well-being. The physical and mental health benefits of close relationships and the adverse effects of family breakdown are well documented. Our research will investigate the effects of increasing bodily overlap within these relationships to improve relationship quality, and this makes our research very relevant to relationship therapies and other family interventions. We also foresee a number of applications in other areas, including the work-place, whereby our research into close adult relationships could be extended to increase our understanding of the role of the body in creating and maintaining functional and productive relationships between work colleagues.</p