Remembrance of Odors Past Human Olfactory Cortex in Cross-Modal Recognition Memory

AbstractEpisodic memory is often imbued with multisensory richness, such that the recall of an event can be endowed with the sights, sounds, and smells of its prior occurrence. While hippocampus and related medial temporal structures are implicated in episodic memory retrieval, the participation of sensory-specific cortex in representing the qualities of an episode is less well established. We combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a cross-modal paradigm, where objects were presented with odors during memory encoding. We then examined the effect of odor context on neural responses at retrieval when these same objects were presented alone. Primary olfactory (piriform) cortex, as well as anterior hippocampus, was activated during the successful retrieval of old (compared to new) objects. Our findings indicate that sensory features of the original engram are preserved in unimodal olfactory cortex. We suggest that reactivation of memory traces distributed across modality-specific brain areas underpins the sensory qualities of episodic memories

Reality beckons: metamodernist depthiness beyond panfictionality

It is often argued that postmodernism has been succeeded by a new dominant cultural logic. We conceive of this new logic as metamodernism. Whilst some twenty-first century texts still engage with and utilise postmodernist practices, they put these practices to new use. In this article, we investigate the metamodern usage of the typically postmodernist devices of metatextuality and ontological slippage in two genres: autofiction and true crime documentary. Specifically, we analyse Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being and the Netflix mini-series The Keepers, demonstrating that forms of fictionalisation, metafictionality and ontological blurring between fiction and reality have been repurposed. We argue that, rather than expand the scope of fiction, overriding reality, the metamodernist repurposing of postmodernist textual strategies generates a kind of ‘reality-effect’

The mashup as resistance?: A critique of Marxist framing in the digital age

This thesis critiques contemporary scholarly approaches to the modern musical mashup that rely on outdated and over-generalized Marxist frameworks. These frameworks stem from an Adornian view of the culture industries that places consumers and producers in distinct and opposing roles. The mashup is therefore seen as little more than a subversive weapon for a resistant consumer class in its fight against the hegemonic structure of the mass media. A case study of the prominent mashup artist Girl Talk is presented to illustrate how the mashup can actually function as a celebratory form and how modern technological advances have destabilized traditional distinctions between consumer and producer. These technological advances, primarily the rise of the personal computer and the Internet, have empowered many consumers to engage with and create their own media. In the process, they have forced a cultural negotiation among existing ideological forces that reflects a dynamic and ever-changing hegemonic process

The mashup as resistance?: A critique of Marxist framing in the digital age

This thesis critiques contemporary scholarly approaches to the modern musical mashup that rely on outdated and over-generalized Marxist frameworks. These frameworks stem from an Adornian view of the culture industries that places consumers and producers in distinct and opposing roles. The mashup is therefore seen as little more than a subversive weapon for a resistant consumer class in its fight against the hegemonic structure of the mass media. A case study of the prominent mashup artist Girl Talk is presented to illustrate how the mashup can actually function as a celebratory form and how modern technological advances have destabilized traditional distinctions between consumer and producer. These technological advances, primarily the rise of the personal computer and the Internet, have empowered many consumers to engage with and create their own media. In the process, they have forced a cultural negotiation among existing ideological forces that reflects a dynamic and ever-changing hegemonic process

Periscope, Live-Streaming and Mobile Video Culture

As a mobile video sharing infrastructure based on the individual, yet utilizing global smartphone platforms, Periscope challenges broadcast logics of content production and circulation. The intimacy of the app, combined with its immediacy, also fosters new types of live video content, potentially reinvigorating mobile journalism and crisis reporting

Geoblocking and Video Culture

Adam Rugg (with B. Burroughs) is a contributing author, Periscope, Live-Streaming and Mobile Video Culture . Book description: How do global audiences use streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer? How does the experience of digital video change according to location? What strategies do people use to access out-of-region content? What are the commercial and governmental motivations behind geoblocking? Geoblocking and Global Video Culture explores the cultural implications of access control and circumvention in an age of VPNs. Featuring seventeen chapters from diverse critical positions and locations – including China, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Cuba, Brazil, USA, Sweden and Australia

War of the Worlds to Social Media

Adam Rugg is a contributing author, Risk, Crisis, and Mobilization in the Twitter Use of US Senatorial Candidates in 2010 . Book description: Seventy-five years after the infamous broadcast, does War of the Worlds still matter? This book answers with a resounding yes! Contributors revisit the broadcast event in order to reconsider its place as a milestone in media history, and to explore its role as a formative event for understanding citizens’ media use in times of crisis. Uniquely focused on the continuities between radio’s «new» media moment and our contemporary era of social media, the collection takes War of the Worlds as a starting point for investigating key issues in twenty-first-century communication, including: the problem of misrepresentation in mediated communication; the importance of social context for interpreting communication; and the dynamic role of listeners, viewers and users in talking back to media producers and institutions. By examining the «crisis» moment of the original broadcast in its international, academic, technological, industrial, and historical context, as well as the role of contemporary new media in ongoing «crisis» events, this volume demonstrates the broad, historical link between new media and crisis over the course of a century.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/communications-books/1017/thumbnail.jp

The feasibility of a psychometric measure for The Experiences of Funerals

Purpose: To test the feasibility and reliability and validity of the Experiences of Funerals measure (EIFFEL) measure in a community population. Design and methods: Using a non-experimental psychometric design, 194 participants completed EIFFEL, which was analysed using item completion rates, exploratory and confirmatory factory analyses and corroborated with free-text comments. Findings: EIFFEL shows good acceptability although internal consistency was low (Cronbach alpha of 0.41). Conclusions: Analysis has allowed us to make three practical recommendations; 1) focus on people who had, or felt they should have had, a role in co-arranging the funeral and 2) use numerical rather than categorical scales and 3) provide scale anchoring. Combined, we have developed a second EIFFEL version for further study. Practice Implications: Given its acceptability, the second version of EIFFEL could be used in practice with caution, taking care to evaluate its use, particularly its reliability and validity