Monkeys and Humans Share a Common Computation for Face/Voice Integration

Speech production involves the movement of the mouth and other regions of the face resulting in visual motion cues. These visual cues enhance intelligibility and detection of auditory speech. As such, face-to-face speech is fundamentally a multisensory phenomenon. If speech is fundamentally multisensory, it should be reflected in the evolution of vocal communication: similar behavioral effects should be observed in other primates. Old World monkeys share with humans vocal production biomechanics and communicate face-to-face with vocalizations. It is unknown, however, if they, too, combine faces and voices to enhance their perception of vocalizations. We show that they do: monkeys combine faces and voices in noisy environments to enhance their detection of vocalizations. Their behavior parallels that of humans performing an identical task. We explored what common computational mechanism(s) could explain the pattern of results we observed across species. Standard explanations or models such as the principle of inverse effectiveness and a “race” model failed to account for their behavior patterns. Conversely, a “superposition model”, positing the linear summation of activity patterns in response to visual and auditory components of vocalizations, served as a straightforward but powerful explanatory mechanism for the observed behaviors in both species. As such, it represents a putative homologous mechanism for integrating faces and voices across primates

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

No need for templates in the auditory enhancement effect

The audibility of a target tone in a multitone background masker is enhanced by the presentation of a precursor sound consisting of the masker alone. There is evidence that precursor-induced neural adaptation plays a role in this perceptual enhancement. However, the precursor may also be strategically used by listeners as a spectral template of the following masker to better segregate it from the target. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis by measuring the audibility of a target tone in a multitone masker after the presentation of precursors which, in some conditions, were made dissimilar to the masker by gating their components asynchronously. The precursor and the following sound were presented either to the same ear or to opposite ears. In either case, we found no significant difference in the amount of enhancement produced by synchronous and asynchronous precursors. In a second experiment, listeners had to judge whether a synchronous multitone complex contained exactly the same tones as a preceding precursor complex or had one tone less. In this experiment, listeners performed significantly better with synchronous than with asynchronous precursors, showing that asynchronous precursors were poorer perceptual templates of the synchronous multitone complexes. Overall, our findings indicate that precursor-induced auditory enhancement cannot be fully explained by the strategic use of the precursor as a template of the following masker. Our results are consistent with an explanation of enhancement based on selective neural adaptation taking place at a central locus of the auditory system

A Systems Approach to Post-conflict Rehabilitation

War represents the ultimate breakdown of communication, relationships, and societal systems. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the basic concepts of systems theory, discuss how this framework transcends the separation between mental health and psychosocial trauma rehabilitation, review the pertinent research regarding collective trauma rehabilitation, and outline the recommendations and model interventions that have evolved as a result of the implementation of this meta-theoretical framework. © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York

Dual-phase evolution in complex adaptive systems

Understanding the origins of complexity is a key challenge in many sciences. Although networks are known to underlie most systems, showing how they contribute to well-known phenomena remains an issue. Here, we show that recurrent phase transitions in network connectivity underlie emergent phenomena in many systems. We identify properties that are typical of systems in different connectivity phases, as well as characteristics commonly associated with the phase transitions. We synthesize these common features into a common framework, which we term dual-phase evolution (DPE). Using this framework, we review the literature from several disciplines to show that recurrent connectivity phase transitions underlie the complex properties of many biological, physical and human systems. We argue that the DPE framework helps to explain many complex phenomena, including perpetual novelty, modularity, scale-free networks and criticality. Our review concludes with a discussion of the way DPE relates to other frameworks, in particular, self-organized criticality and the adaptive cycle