The majority of studies have found higher levels of alexithymia and a higher use of maladaptive coping strategies in individuals with eating disorders (ED). In this study, we consider the relationships between alexithymia and coping skills in different types of ED, in order to identify the specific role of these constructs in predicting dysfunctional eating symptoms. Thirty-four patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), 30 patients with bulimia nervosa (BN), 29 with binge eating disorder (BED) and 28 healthy control (HC) took part in the study. Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation (CISS) were used to assess the constructs of interest. Patients with ED showed higher levels of alexithymia in comparison with HC. Moreover, they presented a higher use of Emotion oriented coping strategy than HC. Regression analysis showed that alexithymia difficult to identify feeling predicted the eating disorder risk in patients with AN, whereas the same risk was predicted by the Emotion oriented coping strategy in BED group. For AN group, the model remain significant also when controlling for anxiety and depression. Alexithymia appears to be a predictor of eating symptoms specifically in an AN group, whereas a high use of emotion-oriented coping strategy appears to be a predictor of ED specifically in BED patients. The present findings may orient various kinds of intervention specifically targeted to different levels of emotion processing.
The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test (Eyes Test; Baron-Cohen et al., J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 38, 813–822, (1997), Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 241–251 2001 is one of the most commonly used and extensively validated tests for assessing social cognitive deficits, especially among those related to autism and schizophrenia. Despite its widespread use, the cognitive mechanisms underlying the Eyes Test are still unclear. We propose that top-down visual attention will result in better performance on the Eyes Test. Seventy-four female participants completed the Eyes Test in conjunction with three congruency tasks, including the flanker, number Stroop, and Navon’s global-local tasks. According to the hypothesis, the Eyes Test scores were found to be negatively associated with the response congruency effects—the difference in performance between congruent and incongruent trials. The neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying these associations are further discussed, and the Eyes Test features that may require top-down visual attention will be explored in depth.
The hard problem of consciousness must be approached through the ontological lens of twentieth-century physics, which tells us that reality is information theoretic Wheeler (American Scientist, 74, 366–375, 1986; Wheeler (1990) and quantized at the level of Planck scale spacetime Snyder (Physical Review D, 67, 38–41, 1947). Through careful deduction, it becomes clear that information cannot exist without consciousness—the awareness of things. And to be aware is to hold the meaning of relationships of objects within consciousness—perceiving abstract objects, while enjoying degrees of freedom within the structuring of those relationships. This defines consciousness as language—(1) a set of objects and (2) an ordering scheme with (3) degrees of freedom used for (4) expressing meaning. And since even information at the Planck scale cannot exist without consciousness, we propose an entity called a “primitive unit of consciousness,” which acts as a mathematical operator in a quantized spacetime language. Quasicrystal mathematics based on E8 geometry Sadoc and Mosseri (Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 26, 1789, 1993) seems to be a candidate for the language of reality, possessing several qualities corresponding to recent physical discoveries and various physically realistic unification models.
Cognitive and brain reserve are construct designed to explain the differences between brain damage or pathology and the clinical manifestation of the condition. Brain reserve is typically introduced as a passive model dealing with anatomical and structural changes in the brain, while cognitive reserve represents variability in the synaptic organization and activation of specific areas. Proxy measures and a residual approach are often used to estimate cognitive reserve with both approaches having its statistical and practical (dis)advantages. For brain reserve, intracranial volume or specific patterns of grey matter volume seem to be the most accepted quantitative measure. In psychotic disorders, cognitive and brain reserve might have an impact on cognitive performance and serve as a predictor for cognitive and functional outcomes of patients. Since cognitive deficits are often present in psychotic disorders, the reserves could also benefit treatment targeting cognitive impairment, specifically when designing a more personalized approach to cognitive training. The present paper is a synthesis of previous studies dealing with cognitive and brain reserve mapping the current research and potential of these constructs in psychotic disorders.
It may seem obvious we are conscious for we are certain we see, feel and think, but there is no accepted scientific account of these mental states as a brain condition. And since most neuroscientists assume consciousness and its supposed powers without explaining it, science is brought into question. That consciousness does not exist is here explained. The alternative, the theory of brain-sign, is outlined. It eliminates the quasi-divine knowledge properties of seeing, feeling and thinking. Brain-sign is a means/mechanism enabling collective action between organisms. Brain-sign signifies the shared world of that action. Signs are intrinsically physical and biologically ubiquitous. Brain-signs are derived moment-by-moment from the causal orientation of each brain towards others and the world. Interactive behaviour which is not predetermined (as in passing a cup of coffee) is characteristic of vertebrate species. Causality lies in the electrochemical operation of the brain. But identifying the changing world by brain-signs binds the causal states of those interacting into one unified operation. Brain-signing creatures, including humans, have no ‘sense’ they function this way. The world appears as seen. The ‘sense of seeing’, however, is the brain’s communicative activity in joint behaviour. Similarly for ‘feeling’. Language causality results from the transmission of compression waves or electromagnetic radiation from one brain to another altering the other’s causal orientation. The ‘sense of understanding’ words is the communicative state. The brain understands nothing, knows nothing, believes nothing. By replacing the prescientific notion of consciousness, brain-sign can enable a scientific path for brain science.
Scientific investigations in the past decades have revealed that the brain’s electric activities correlate with the phenomenology of consciousness. Thus, cognitive science increasingly utilizes physical principles for its analyses. Recently, the Fermionic Mind Hypothesis (FMH) was suggested to explain the hard problem of consciousness. Quantum cognition has considered quantum theory for modeling cognitive phenomena such as memory, language, decision-making, and social interaction for decades. String theory can explain social comparisons and the aptitude for proportionality. The evoked cycle represents an energy-information cycle between the cortex and the limbic brain that is built on the brain’s resting state. Because gravity operates via pressure, time perception informs motivation via emotions. Sensory information, which reflects spatial relationships, is transformed into temporal relationships of memories and decisions. Positive emotions represent an endothermic cycle, which orients toward the future. Negative emotions correspond to information overload; the exothermic process imposes a high energy need on the brain. The energetic consequences of emotions might explain the evolution of intellect as well as mental disease.
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a common symptom of schizophrenia. Studies have focused on a classification of AVHs, based on different criteria. Subtypes of AVHs have been defined, distinguishing according to whether they are internal/external, single/multiple, unimodal/multimodal, benevolent/malevolent, permanent/intermittent, etc. The purpose of this study is to propose a classification of AVHs based on their content. We first identify the subtype that is directly associated with the polythematic delusions inherent in schizophrenia. Second, we distinguish subtypes related to other comorbid psychiatric disorders associated with schizophrenia in the patient: generalized anxiety disorder, depression, body dysmorphic disorder, etc. Finally, we suggest that such a differentiation could allow a correlative adaptation of the corresponding cognitive-behaviour therapy.
The recognition that the brain’s electric activities correlate with psychophysiology has encouraged the application of physical principles in the analysis of cognitive processes. Perception is an orthogonal transformation of the spatial organization of the physical world into a temporally organized system—the discrete processing of stimulus centers on the resting state. Information overload formulates a time pressure of stress and temporal excess spurs satisfaction. Both conditions enhance time perception but correspond to opposite emotions and attitudes. Emotions underlie all cognitive and processes by forming the fundamental motivations, attachments, and personal boundaries. Emotions have irresistible power over our behavior; by operating behind conscious awareness, they modulate what we see, hear, and think. The fermionic mind hypothesis (FMH) establishes consciousness as the smallest unit of intellect that operates via the principles of string theory, general relativity, and quantum mechanics. Adopting physical laws ensures survival by integrating the mind into the environment.
Given that the lockdown measures taken so as to diminish the dissemination of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to create major mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the present study was conducted aiming to evaluate the prevalence of OCD and cognitive errors among young people during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019. The present study is a descriptive, cross-sectional study in which a total of 150 young people aged 13 to 19 were randomly included. Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Questionnaire (MOCI) and Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CEQ) were completed, and then their results were analyzed by SPSS 22 software. The results revealed that 67.3% of the subjects who were evaluated may have demonstrated OCD symptomatology. The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms in women was slightly higher than in men (72.1 compared to 60.3%). Likewise, the test results indicated that there was a significant difference between obsessive-compulsive disorder symptom in men and women ( p = .001). There was also a significant difference between the two groups with OCD symptoms and without OCD symptoms in all the components of cognitive errors ( p = .001). To the authors’ best of knowledge, this is the first study that has evaluated OCD symptoms at the time of COVID-19 prevalence. The findings suggest the need to enhance the prevention of relapse during social restrictions as well as to develop other strategies including online consultation and digital psychiatric management.
Using arguments drawn from the physics of quantum-entangled systems, I derive a simple constraint on local psychic abilities—the First Local Psychic Powers Restriction (FLPPR). I prove that a psychic’s score at guessing the outcome of a quantum-random sequence must be precisely equal to his score at guessing the outcome of a classically-random sequence.
This article presents an experiment which studies the relationship between observer and observed phenomena in nature and how the concept of energy and force can be expanded through this relationship within the framework of brain to brain communication.
The literature on hypersexual behavior following acquired brain injury consists of single or small case series with findings often difficult to reconcile, due to non-systematic, clinical descriptions of the behavior and its associated neurocognitive factors across authors. The objective of this study was to advance an understanding of the behavioral manifestations and neuropathology of acquired hypersexual behavior via literature review with an illustrative case study including pre- and post-onset neuropsychological test results. The case involved acquired hypersexual behavior with an increased ease of arousal manifested as constant verbal demands upon his wife, sexually explicit talk, and insatiable performance followed bithalamic strokes in a 44-year-old male. Neuropsychological testing showed a dense anterograde amnesia and less severe executive impairment. Co-occurring compulsive eating and anosognosia were also observed. The hypersexual behavior and compulsive eating were interpreted as resulting from a disconnection syndrome that separated mesiotemporal limbic structures from orbitofrontal control. It was not part of a generalized disinhibition, as the behaviors that showed a post-injury increase were highly specific. This is consistent with dual control theoretical models of human sexuality whereby the human sexual response involves an interaction between independent sexual excitatory and inhibitory processes. Many questions about acquired hypersexual behavior remain, especially why it so rarely occurs even in cases of bilateral orbitofrontal and temporal injury. A large-scale, multi-site, prospective study to measure prevalence within the overall context of acute frontotemporal injury, although practically difficult to organize, would be informative.
This essay describes what an anthropologist has learned from his ethnographic research with physicists who are engaged in quantum physics interpretation, including Henry Stapp. I argue that meta-physical considerations about “mind” among physicists often obscure the possibility of empirical research on concrete and individual minds and the role they play in quantum interpretation. Therefore, the philosophical rigor of quantum interpretation could benefit if individual interpreters could find an interest in discovering a manner of analyzing their own style of interpretation such that their own style would be communicable with others as a topic of conversation, rather than simply repeated dogmatically and argumentatively. Such considerations would require greater empirical attention to human thought itself, such that “mind” becomes less abstract and mystified, and thus more knowable and self-conscious.
This essay offers a meditation on Henry Stapp’s “psychophysical” universe from the vantage point of a Whiteheadian cosmology inflected by a premodern tradition of negative (apophatic) theology. Nicholas of Cusa’s “cloud of the impossible” and Stapp’s “cloudlike spatial structure” here come into interpenetration, inviting wide public realization of the “yet-to-be-plumbed potentialities” both of Stapp’s vision and of the “intricately interconnected whole” it curates.
It is wonderful that Henry is still creative and active at the age of 90. I first communicated with Henry in 1963 when I was with Fred W. Cummings at Ford Philco Aeronutronics in Newport Beach, CA (I left Cornell where I was working with Leonard Susskind and Johnny Glogower on the problem of time and phase operators in quantum mechanics. I returned to Cornell about 6 months later.). That is also when I first met Richard Feynman at Cal Tech and also when I first communicated by snail mail with Brian Josephson if I recall correctly. David Kaiser recalls my interaction with Henry about quantum entanglement in his book “How the Hippies Saved Physics.” Kaiser also wrote how Nick Herbert and I were key catalysts in the creation of the “billion-dollar” quantum information/cryptography/computer industry. Henry played a key role in Nick’s and my quixotic quest to use orthodox quantum mechanical entanglement as a direct stand-alone keyless locally decodable command-control-communication-channel C4 (On Apr 22, 2018, at 4:52 PM, Robert Addinall wrote: “Actually command-control-communications channel should be C3. For C4, it should be command-control-communications-computing. Although it starts with the letter C, the word “channel” is not usually included in the acronym (C2 for command and control, and C4ISR for command-control-communications-computing-intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance). It’s nice that you are writing some of this up in honor of Henry’s birthday.”). This “failure” led to the modern-day no-go theorems that form the basis of practical quantum cryptographic networks like the Chinese satellite web.
This article reconsiders the three concepts stated in its title—reality, phenomena, and atomicity—in terms of the concept of “reality without realism,” which follows and in part radicalizes Bohr’s view of quantum reality. It also addresses the work of A. N. Whitehead and H. Stapp from this perspective.
In the paper titled “Quantum Measurement, Consciousness and the Soul: A New, Alternative Position” by Werbos, 2018a, he concludes about the problem of quantum measurement: “All of this physics does not tell us much about consciousness or the soul…” and he suggests that the answers may be found in other areas of science, like neuroscience and neural networks for example. Let us begin by extending these areas to cognitive science, systems neuroscience, non-linear system dynamics, mathematics, and classical and quantum physics. I will take a stand that supports the view that some form of quantum theory may facilitate our understanding of consciousness, mind, soul, and spiritual values-based decision-making. The most relevant authors and theories that I will briefly explore are Henry P. Stapp’s Quantum Interactive Dualism (QID) (Stapp, 2009a; Stapp, 2006) and Walter Freeman’s and Robert Kozma’s Cinematic Theory of Cortical Phase Transitions (Kozma & Freeman, 2016), where both theories, in different ways, serve as a foundation for the understanding of how the brain creates knowledge and meaning for intentional action and value-based decision-making. Finally, it is proposed that Stapp’s contribution together with Freeman’s and Kozma’s views in conjunction with the work of Giuseppe Vitiello can be regarded as sound and complementary platforms to build upon the big picture of consciousness, together with a platform of noospheres, similar yet different than the ones described by Teilhard de Chardin (de Chardin, 1966).
Two studies address the sequence of understandings evident in preschoolers' developing theory of mind. The first, preliminary study provides a meta-analysis of research comparing different types of mental state understandings (e.g., desires vs. beliefs, ignorance vs. false belief). The second, primary study tests a theory-of-mind scale for preschoolers. In this study 75 children (aged 2 years, 11 months to 6 years, 6 months) were tested on 7 tasks tapping different aspects of understanding persons' mental states. Responses formed a consistent developmental progression, where for most children if they passed a later item they passed all earlier items as well, as confirmed by Guttman and Rasch measurement model analyses.
5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (acronymized as 5-MeO-DMT) is sui generis among the numerous naturally occurring psychoactive substances due to its unparalleled ego-dissolving effects which can culminate in a state of nondual consciousness that is phenomenologically similar to transformative peak experiences described in various ancient contemplative traditions (e.g., Advaita Vedānta, Mahāyāna Buddhism, inter alia). The enigmatic molecule is endogenous to the human brain and has profound psychological effects which are hitherto only very poorly understood due to the absence of scientifically controlled human experimental trials. Its exact neuronal receptor binding profile is a matter of ongoing research; however, empirical evidence indicates that its remarkable psychoactivity is partially mediated via agonism of the 5-HT1A/2A (serotonin) receptor subtypes. Anthropological/ethnopharmacological evidence indicates that various cultures utilized 5-MeO-DMT containing plants for medicinal, psychological, and spiritual purposes for millennia. We propose that this naturally occurring serotonergic compound could be fruitfully utilized as a neurochemical research tool with the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the psychological and neuronal processes which underpin cognition and creativity (e.g., downregulation of the default mode network, increased global functional connectivity, neuroplasticity, σ1 receptor interactions, etc.). An eclectic interdisciplinary perspective is adopted, and we present converging evidence from a plurality of sources in support of our conjecture. Specifically, we argue that 5-MeO-DMT has significant neuropsychopharmacological potential due to its incommensurable capacity to completely disintegrate self-referential cognitive/neuronal processes (viz., ego death). The importance of unbiased systematic scientific research on naturally occurring endogenous psychoactive compounds is discussed from a Jamesian radical empiricism perspective, and potential scenarios of abuse are addressed, particularly in the context of neuroethics, cybernetic manipulation, and military research on torture.
The principles of classical physics, including deterministic dynamics and observability of physical states, are incompatible with the existence of unobservable conscious minds that possess free will. Attempts to directly accommodate consciousness in a classical world lead to philosophical paradoxes such as causally ineffective consciousness and possibility of alternate worlds in which functional brain isomorphs behave identically but lack conscious experiences. Here, we show that because Chalmers’ principle of organizational invariance is based on a deficient nineteenth century classical physics, it is inherently flawed and implies evolutionary inexplicable epiphenomenal consciousness. Consequently, if consciousness is a fundamental ingredient of physical reality, no psychophysical laws such as Chalmers’ principle of organizational invariance are needed to establish correspondence between conscious experiences and brain function. Quantum mechanics is the most successful and only modern physical theory capable of naturally accommodating consciousness without violation of physical laws.
