scholarly journals On the “Strength” of Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696
Author(s):  
Carsta Simon ◽  
João Lucas Bernardy ◽  
Sarah Cowie
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Overt Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Observations ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
Causal Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Eeg Recordings ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Scientific Endeavor

AbstractThe place of the concept of response strength in a natural science of behavior has been the subject of much debate. This article reconsiders the concept of response strength for reasons linked to the foundations of a natural science of behavior. The notion of response strength is implicit in many radical behaviorists’ work. Palmer (2009) makes it explicit by applying the response strength concept to three levels: (1) overt behavior, (2) covert behavior, and (3) latent or potential behavior. We argue that the concept of response strength is superfluous in general, and an explication of the notion of giving causal status to nonobservable events like latent behavior or response strength is harmful to a scientific endeavor. Interpreting EEG recordings as indicators of changes in response strength runs the risk of reducing behavior to underlying mechanisms, regardless of whether such suggestions are accompanied by behavioral observations. Many radical behaviorists understand behavior as a discrete unit, inviting conceptual mistakes reflected in the notion of response strength. A molar view is suggested as an alternative that accounts for the temporally extended nature of behavior and avoids the perils of a response-strength based approach.

scholarly journals Acute sickness behaviour: an immune system-to-brain communication?

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 761-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
UTÉ VOLLMER-CONNA
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Adaptive Function ◽  
Sickness Behaviour ◽  
Specific Symptom ◽  
Seminal Paper ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Brain

Over the past 20 years, psychoneuroimmunological research has produced a large body of evidence that challenges the historically dominant view that the immune system operates in an autonomous manner independent of other physiological systems. Today, there is little doubt that the brain and the immune system are intimately linked and capable of reciprocal communication (Ader et al. 1991). Despite the acknowledged bi-directional nature of the brain–immune system connection, the predominant focus of study has been on the effects of psychological and behavioural events (e.g. stress) on immune responses and disease processes, and the mechanisms underlying such effects (see Kusnekov & Rabin, 1994; Maier et al. 1994; Rozlog et al. 1999). However, considerable interest in the possibilities of immune-system-to-brain communication was initiated by a seminal paper considering the biological basis of behaviour in sick animals (Hart, 1988). Subsequently, the immunological determinants of the behavioural, cognitive and emotional changes associated with acute illness, as well as with more chronic psychopathological states (e.g. depression) have become the subject of rapidly expanding areas of research (e.g. Kent et al. 1992; Lloyd et al. 1992; Hickie & Lloyd, 1995; Maes et al. 1995a; Rothwell & Hopkins, 1995; Dantzer et al. 1996; Maier & Watkins, 1998; Vollmer-Conna et al. 1998; Maes, 1999).The main objective of this editorial is to provide a succinct overview of current knowledge of the normal behavioural correlates of acute infective illness, their adaptive function and underlying mechanisms. Elucidation of the processes involved in the appearance, maintenance and inhibition of ‘normal’ sickness behaviour is important if extrapolations from this phenomenon to more chronic psychopathological conditions are to provide more than a new label for poorly understood non-specific symptom clusters.

Empirical Consciousness Explained: Self-Affection, (Self-)Consciousness and Perception in the B Deduction

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 29-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey W. Dyck
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Pivot Point ◽  
Inner Sense ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Opus Postumum

Few of Kant's doctrines are as difficult to understand as that of self-affection. Its brief career in the published literature consists principally in its unheralded introduction in the Transcendental Aesthetic and unexpected reappearance at a key moment in the Deduction chapter in the second (B) edition of the first Critique. After blazing its trail, self-affection retreats into the background, with a discussion befitting its importance occurring only in the unfinished Opus postumum. This step out of the limelight, however, belies the doctrine's continued importance for Kant; indeed, Kant seemed to think that in self-affection was to be found the key to the project that occupied him in his last years. Thus, ‘the possibility of the transition from the metaphysical foundations of natural science to physics does not consist in the fact that the subject is empirically affected but rather that it affects itself’ (Opus postumum, 22: 405). As he continued to struggle with this doctrine and with the pivot-point on which to work this vital transition, Kant himself would surely come to rue his confident statement in the B Deduction: ‘I do not see how one can find so many difficulties in the fact that inner sense is affected by ourselves’ (B156n).

scholarly journals European Patent in Immunoncology: From Immunological Principles of Implantation to Cancer Treatment

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska M. Würfel ◽  
Christoph Winterhalter ◽  
Peter Trenkwalder ◽  
Ralph M. Wirtz ◽  
Wolfgang Würfel
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Tumor Tissue ◽  
Second Step ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Maternal Immune System ◽  
Specific Receptors ◽  
Immunological Treatment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
In Pregnancy

The granted European patent EP 2 561 890 describes a procedure for an immunological treatment of cancer. It is based on the principles of the HLA-supported communication of implantation and pregnancy. These principles ensure that the embryo is not rejected by the mother. In pregnancy, the placenta, more specifically the trophoblast, creates an “interface” between the embryo/fetus and the maternal immune system. Trophoblasts do not express the “original” HLA identification of the embryo/fetus (HLA-A to -DQ), but instead show the non-classical HLA groups E, F, and G. During interaction with specific receptors of NK cells (e.g., killer-immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR)) and lymphocytes (lymphocyte-immunoglobulin-like receptors (LIL-R)), the non-classical HLA groups inhibit these immunocompetent cells outside pregnancy. However, tumors are known to be able to express these non-classical HLA groups and thus make use of an immuno-communication as in pregnancies. If this occurs, the prognosis usually worsens. This patent describes, in a first step, the profiling of the non-classical HLA groups in primary tumor tissue as well as metastases and recurrent tumors. The second step comprises tailored antibody therapies, which is the subject of this patent. In this review, we analyze the underlying mechanisms and describe the currently known differences between HLA-supported communication of implantation and that of tumors.

Interpretation in History: Collingwood and Historical Understanding

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 109-119
Author(s):  
Patrick Gardiner
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Change ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come

When considering a suitable topic for inclusion in this collection, it occurred to me that it might be worth discussing a writer whose interests were largely centred on themes directly related to those cited in the collection's title, and who throughout most of his philosophical career remained particularly insistent upon the need to define the boundaries separating humanistic modes of understanding from ones associated with the physical sciences. The writer in question was R. G. Collingwood. Although Collingwood has justly been credited with perceptive insights into the metaphysical origins and presuppositions of natural science, as well as with raising pointed questions concerning the nature of conceptual change in scientific thought, he had in fact little first-hand knowledge of the subject and it is not in this sphere that his chief claims to importance and originality lie. Rather, they are to be found in an area with which he was certainly intimately acquainted and in which as a practitioner he helped to make significant discoveries on the ground. That was history, a discipline requiring in his view a type of thinking that had either been ignored by his philosophical contemporaries or else misconceived and distorted by those who had troubled to consider it. Thus, as a result of making a serious effort on his own account to come to terms with what it involved, he became—in his own words at the time—‘more and more conscious of being an outlaw’.

scholarly journals Pattern, process, inference and prediction in extinction biology

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 20160828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry W. Brook ◽  
John Alroy
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Patterns And Processes

Extinction is a key feature of the evolutionary history of life, and assessments of extinction risk are essential for the effective protection of biodiversity. The goal in assembling this special issue of Biology Letters was to highlight problems and questions at the research frontier of extinction biology, with an emphasis on recent developments in the methodology of inferring the patterns and processes of extinction from a background of often noisy and sparse data. In selecting topics, we sought to illustrate how extinction is not simply a self-evident phenomenon, but the subject of a dynamic and quantitatively rigorous field of natural science, with practical applications to conservation.

Saving the Appearances

1978 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. R. Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Greek Astronomy

‘Saving the appearances’, , is a slogan that, in its time, stood or was made to stand for many different methodological positions in many different branches of ancient natural science. It is not my aim, in this paper, to attempt to tackle the subject as a whole. I shall concentrate on just one inquiry, astronomy. Nor, with astronomy, can I do justice to all the complexities of what was certainly one of the central methodological issues, if not the central issue, in the history of ancient theoretical astronomy. I have a quite limited aim, to examine the foundations, and test the applicability, of a widespread and influential line of interpretation of ancient Greek astronomy according to which it was essentially, or at least predominantly, what we may call ‘instrumentalist’ in character—that is, broadly speaking, that Greek astronomical theories were devices or fictions put forward purely for the sake of calculations with no claims to correspond with physical reality.

scholarly journals On some milestones in the development of soviet acoustics (to the 140th anniversary of the birth of academician Nikolay Nikolayevich Andreyev)

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-188
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Egerev
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Research Centers ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S

Several key episodes of the development of Soviet acoustics in the crucial years for the country are described. They are related to the scientific activities of the founder of Soviet acoustics, N. N. Andreyev, whose 140th birthday is celebrated in 2020. Organizational aspects of large Soviet projects in the field of air acoustics and hydroacoustics are discussed. The migration of the subject is traced – from the predominant development of air acoustics in the 1930s to the development of hydroacoustics in the 1950–1960s. Especial interest represent both the accelerated institutional development of Soviet science in the 1950s and the conservation of this development by the mid-1960s. The article deals with the peculiarities of the development of natural science and technical sciences at universities and at specialized research centers.

scholarly journals Effect of number and placement of EEG electrodes on measurement of neural tracking of speech

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jair Montoya-Martínez ◽  
Jonas Vanthornhout ◽  
Alexander Bertrand ◽  
Tom Francart
Keyword(s):  
Reconstruction Error ◽  
Optimal Number ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Auditory Neuroscience ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Subject Specific ◽  
Independent Case ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Eeg Recordings

Measurement of neural tracking of natural running speech from the electroencephalogram (EEG) is an increasingly popular method in auditory neuroscience and has applications in audiology. The method involves decoding the envelope of the speech signal from the EEG signal, and calculating the correlation with the envelope of the audio stream that was presented to the subject. Typically EEG systems with 64 or more electrodes are used. However, in practical applications, set-ups with fewer electrodes are required. Here, we determine the optimal number of electrodes, and the best position to place a limited number of electrodes on the scalp. We propose a channel selection strategy based on an utility metric, which allows a quick quantitative assessment of the influence of a channel (or a group of channels) on the reconstruction error. We consider two use cases: a subject-specific case, where the optimal number and position of the electrodes is determined for each subject individually, and a subject-independent case, where the electrodes are placed at the same positions (in the 10-20 system) for all the subjects. We evaluated our approach using 64-channel EEG data from 90 subjects. In the subject-specific case we found that the correlation between actual and reconstructed envelope first increased with decreasing number of electrodes, with an optimum at around 20 electrodes, yielding 29% higher correlations using the optimal number of electrodes compared to all electrodes. This means that our strategy of removing electrodes can be used to improve the correlation metric in high-density EEG recordings. In the subject-independent case, we obtained a stable decoding performance when decreasing from 64 to 22 channels. When the number of channels was further decreased, the correlation decreased. For a maximal decrease in correlation of 10%, 32 well-placed electrodes were sufficient in 91% of the subjects.

scholarly journals Meningkatkan Kreativitas Siswa dalam Menganalisis Kebebasan Pers dengan Metode Pemberian Tugas

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Hotman Aritonang
Keyword(s):  
Civic Education ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Lower Score ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Good Level ◽  
The Subject

The subject of this research is 43 persons of students at class of Natural Science-1 grade XII, as the object is Teaching Method of Tasking, with collecting data conducted by using observation list and questionaire. Based on the pre-test to 43 students, shows that 22 students (55.2 percent) obtained lower score of learning result, and only 15 students (34.8 percent) predicated middle level of creativity, and 6 students (14 percent) predicate good level of creativity, and the average score reached is 62.9 percent. In the first cycle, 8 students (18.6 percent) achieved good predicate of creativity, while 22 students (52.5) predicated middle level of creativity, and 13 students (30.2 percent) predicated lower level ofcreativity, by the average score of 65.4 percent. In the second cycle, there is increasing of score by 30 students (69.8 percent) predicated good level of creativity and the achieved average score of 82 percent. By questionaire in the last meeting, there is increasing on 35 students (81.4 percent) predicated good level of creativity and only 3 students (7 percent) predicated lower level of creativity and the obtained average score of 84.9 percent. Based on the research, from the first to second cycle, empirically proved there are increasing of learning result significantly. Therefore, using method of tasking can be elevate creativity of students on the subject of Civic Education in the class of Natural Science-1 grade XII SMA 12 of Medan.

scholarly journals Theology, Metaphysics, and Science: Twenty-First Century Hermeneutical Allies, Strangers, or Enemies?

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Antoci
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
First Century ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Scientific Endeavor

This article answers the question of whether the study of theology and metaphysics can be classified currently, or ever qualify in the future, as a scientific endeavor. Rather than choose a particular theology or metaphysics as the subject of inquiry, this essay argues that it is not only necessary to recognize the role of hermeneutics within different fields of study, but that it is also necessary to begin a human hermeneutic with human experience. Changes in our global context, whether social, economic, political, or environmental, are important drivers of hermeneutical evolution. We should expect no less change in the areas of theology, metaphysics, and science. The question of truth, whether subjective or objective, is a hermeneutical one.

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