BELIEF IS NOT A MONOLITHIC THING: Anosognosia

Anosognosia is a common, fascinating, and ill-understood disorder following brain damage, where patients who suffer severe deficits such as hemiplegia may remain unaware of and deny their handicap. Many studies including recent work published in this journal have attempted to determine the neurological, cognitive, and motivational bases of anosognosia. These studies have typically focused on descriptive correlations between anosognosia and various clinical factors, but did not identify a consistent pattern of brain lesion or dysfunction. Rather, the results have emphasized the complex and multifacet nature of anosognosia.

Anosognosia is a perplexing condition. It can affect patients with various neurological impairments who appear unable to notice and acknowledge the existence of their deficits, often despite blatant evidence for their handicap. Typical examples are hemiplegic patients who may assert that their paralyzed limbs are still functioning normally. Other patients with bilateral cortical blindness may claim that their vision is intact, or amnesics may contend that their memory is excellent. In fact, patients may be anosognosic for virtually any neurological deficit following brain injury, including aphasia, prosopagnosia , or apraxia.

Anosognosia for hemiplegia (AHP) is thought to be relatively common, encountered in at least 20- 30% of hemiplegics after an acute stroke.

However, we still have a very poor understanding of anosognosia. This is perhaps not too surprising given the heterogeneity of this phenomenon. But more surprisingly, only few systematic studies have been carried out in these patients with the aim of better characterizing the crucial clinical features and their possible underlying cognitive mechanisms. Most existing studies have been descriptive (e.g., examining the correlation with different lesion types, severity of neurological impairment, etc.), whereas experimental investigations have been rare or performed only in a few single cases.

Confabulation and anosognosia

Anosognosia is a condition in which a person who suffers disability seems unaware of or denies the existence of his or her disability. It can occur after brain injury or other neurological impairment. Anosognosia occurs in over half of right hemisphere stroke patients (J. Cutting put the figure at 58% in a study described in 1978), while it hardly ever occurs in left hemisphere stroke victims.

The right hemisphere of our brain is the part which directly perceives the complexity of reality. The left brain relies on conceptualisations which can only ever be an approximation to reality. The left brain relies on new information updates from the right brain to refresh its views on what is happening. Without this input it stays stuck in the same beliefs and story lines which become increasingly divorced from on-going reality.

Confabulation is the formation of false memories, perceptions, or beliefs… as a result of neurological dysfunction (wikipedia). It leads to a situation where people lie without realising they are lying. Clearly this can happen as a result of anosognosia.

Modern humans are all dominated by the left brain, particularly in terms of thought and speech, and the right hemisphere has to take a back seat, its impressions becoming sub-conscious. Therefore we do not consciously perceive full reality. And, as part of this very scenario, we are not habitually aware of this limitation. We could all be said to be suffering from partial anosognosia. This is why we all confabulate to some degree.

In a new investigation, Aikaterini Fotopoulou and her colleagues have shown that some patients fitting this description have a residual, subconscious awareness of their disability.

The researchers recruited 14 brain-damaged patients with a completely paralysed left arm, half of whom denied their paralysis (ie they had anosognosia). Next, all the patients were presented with a series of sentences for which they had to provide the final word. The twist to the task is that the word had to be completely unrelated in meaning to its adjoining sentence.

Some of the sentences were emotionally neutral (about cars), some were negatively emotional (about violence), and finally some pertained to stroke and physical disabilities. The patients with anosognosia performed no differently from the paralysed controls on the neutral and negative sentences, but they took longer to complete the sentences about stroke and disabilities. This was taken as a sign of competition between subconscious self-threatening information about disability and the task requirement to find an unrelated word. It suggests the anosognosic patients had a subconscious awareness of their own disability.

The patients were also asked to rate the same set of sentences for their self-relevance – this was an explicit test of their awareness. Again, the anosognosic patients differed from controls on precisely the sentences that pertained to stroke and disability. This time, as you might expect, they tended to say such sentences were less relevant to them than did the controls.

A final component of the study involved scanning the brains of all fourteen of the patients. This showed that the patients with anosognosia had damage in brain regions involved in motor control (including the basal ganglia) and body representation (including the anterior insula) that were unaffected in patients without anosognosia.

Fotopoulou’s theory is that patients with anosognosia have a subconscious awareness of their deficits but that the brain circuits responsible for creating an up-to-date representation of self are compromised. Consistent with this, inprevious research, patients with anosnognosia have shown greater insight when describing their impairments from a third-person perspective and also after viewing themselves on video. A related theory is that patients with anosognosia have intact motor planning brain circuits but that their feedback circuits are damaged. So, when asked to move, they feel that they’ve sent a successful motor command to their limb but are left unaware that the command wasn’t enacted.

One reason anosognosia is so intriguing is that it has both neurobiological and psychological components. Some experts have interpreted it as a form of Freudian defence against the emotional trauma of paralysis. Consistent with this, when insight into their paralysis has been achieved, previously anosognosic patients have subsequently suffered from an increase indepressive symptoms.

‘The combination of our behavioural and neural findings suggest that an explicit, affectively personalised sensorimotor awareness requires the re-representation of sensorimotor information in the insular cortex, with possible involvement of limbic areas and basal ganglia circuits,’ the researchers said. ‘The delusional features of anosognosia for hemiplegia can be explained as a failure of this re-representation.’

As in

Patrick Haggard, Department of Psychology, UCL: http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/patrick.haggard/c567/c5678.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225720.100-mind-fiction-why-your-brain-tells-tall-tales.html

ANOSOGNOSIA: THE NEUROLOGY OF BELIEFS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Patrik Vuilleumier, (Laboratory for Behavioural Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Physiology, University Medical Center, Geneva):

http://labnic.unige.ch/nic/papers/PV_CX2004.pdf

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/133/12/3564

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.pt/2010/12/paralysis-deniers-have-subconscious.html

Why a pet if you can get a women ?

(Sexuality Tips for Men)

“Not all pussy is the same, in case you haven’t noticed. The four-legged variety will assuredly take priority over the two-legged any day of the week and if you’re a man who owns a mouser, I’m sure you’ll agree with me – pussycats rule!” according to Sam Phillips

A new AP-Petside poll found that, when forced to choose, as many as 14 percent of current pet owners would tell their spouses or significant others to hit the road rather than ditch their pets. When it comes to unmarried pet owners, the numbers skew slightly more in favor of pets — 25 percent.

Still, throngs of pet lovers appear to value their relationships with pets over people. We asked readers what they thought, and after talking to a number of pet owners about this deeply philosophical question, we too found that a surprising number of people would unequivocally choose the company of Fido or Fluffy over the prospect of romantic fulfillment. However, their reasons may not be exactly what you think:
- You cannot hold a conversation with a cat
-A cat cannot contribute to the household finances
-A cat cannot have sex with you
-A cat cannot take care of you in times of dire need
-She’s a keeper, I knew that the first time we met. She barks.

What is the best way to touch a woman? It depends on the woman. I’m going to explain EXACTLY what you need to know to figure it out for your woman.
There are a few important keys to touching that can let her know, INSTANTLY that you know exactly what you are doing– and get her powerfully aroused.
The first thing you should know, if you don’t already, is that women LOVE to be touched. Touch is very important to all humans, but it is, generally, much more important to women, and they respond very strongly to touch. It is a powerful reward to a woman when you touch her, and it can instantly make her feel great. Now, of course, some women are more reserved about it…some are more formal and are not comfortable feeling such good feelings with someone until they know them well. Some women are just closed off and don’t like anyone to enter their space, and even in a relationship, they resist having another person touch them so easily…And some women simply do not like being touched. They find itunpleasant and they recoil from it. But the truth is, women in those last two categories (ABSOLUTELY those in the last one) have had some trauma in their lives, probably child sexual abuse, that has damaged them to the extent that they can’t accept this natural and beautiful form of shared pleasure. That’s a sad truth of the world.

“He’s my perfect pint-sized companion and as far as I’m concerned, “Man!” takes priority over the current dick in my bed. At the end of the day, I’ll always remember the times [insert douche's name here] wasn’t there for me, and Mr. Man was. Note to future guys I’m banging: Don’t make me chose between you and my fur-child. You will lose.” Sam Phillips

Sensual touching is an art that you should definitely spend some time mastering — because it will be incredibly rewarding to both you and the woman in your life.

Touch her more
.

However much you are already touching your girlfriend, wife, or lover…you can do it more often. I can’t emphasize enough how much of an emotional connection and bond can be formed by this simple action. Women link many feelings of sexuality,love, and trust with the sensations that are aroused in them when a man puts his hands on her.It can make her feel both sexually excited and safe at the same time. It can also make her body release certain chemicals into her blood that make her feel more attraction to and more comfort with the man that she is with.

How’s that for the simplest tip ever?

Try it out. I promise that it is as effective as it is simple.
Look into her eyes.Well, here’s one that’s even more simple…but again…it’s so much more powerful than it sounds. When you are putting your hand on her, whether you are caressing or squeezing…or petting or holding or any other kind of touching…Look into her eyes as you are doing it.You will find that if you hold eye contact with a woman — even if she looks down for a moment — she will be drawn into your gaze and that you can hold her there. This will add an amazing amount of emotional intensity to your touch. She will feel it deeply in her body.You may think, heck, I already look at her when I touch her…But just try this — try being aware of intentionally holding her eye contact as you touch her.I think you will find that it makes a very big difference.

Try touching her in new ways. There are particular types of touching that women find more romantic, more sensual, and more arousing than others. And, of course, since all women are different, you’re going to have to do some experimenting to find out what the woman in your life responds to most. The key is to really tune in to her and notice how she is responding. That tuning in or “Paying Attention” that I always talk about, is actually the really important part of this tip…But here are a few ways you should try touching her — most women respond very positively towards ALL of them.Pay attention to see which ones your girl goes for:Use the very tips of your fingers and run them very, very lightly, so that it is almost a tickle, anywhere (or everywhere) on her skin.
Stroke her gently, but not tentatively with the entire face of your hand. Try running it up her back, her neck, her legs, arms, or the side of her face.
Just hold her firmly. This can be such a powerful feeling for a woman. Just place your hand on her shoulder, the back of her neck, her thigh, arm, or hand…and just hold her. Let her feel your masculine strength, but don’t, obviously, hurt her. If you do this right, she should feel the tenderness and protectiveness behind your touch.
Cup her with your hand, and stroke gently with your thumb…This combines the first idea of gentle finger tips with the last one of holding her firmly…
I particularly like to hold the back of her neck and then gently stroke her cheek with my thumb…while looking into her eyes. Also try holding the back of her head and stroking her temple, or hold her arm and stroke her shoulder, or her thigh and stroke her knee.
Add eye contact to all of these and she will melt.
Pet her hair. I have never met a woman who does not enjoy having her hair stroked. For girls with straight hair, you can let your fingers run through it. If she has curly hair, just pet, so that you don’t get stuck and start yanking on her knots!

To really send her into orbit, start at her neck and use your fingers to pet upwards into her hair along her scalp. You can bring a woman very close to orgasm with this one.

The basic truth is: A woman can FEEL, not just the physical sensation of your hand on her skin, but also she can FEEL the emotional content of your touch.

I know this sounds a little bit “out there,” but again, as always, I challenge you to TRY it before you dismiss it because this is really an incredibly powerful truth. When you touch a woman while thinking sexual thoughts about her, and when you focus that intent into your touch, she will FEEL it very strongly… and her body will respond to it. That sexual energywill flow from you and into her.

Likewise, when you feel tender feelings of attraction and protectiveness for your woman, and you stroke her hair, it makes her feel loved and safe. And there is nothing that will provide you both with a more amazing night of mind-melting sex than when the woman in your arms feels loved and safe.

If you are in a relationship, you will be even more amazed at the positive changes that just a tiny bit of information can cause. You can go to a marriage counselor, or talk to a therapist, or read books on “communicating” better, but there is NOTHING in my experience that improves a relationship more or strengthens the bond between a man and a woman than touch and sex.
And if nothing works, get a pet.

Required Tools:
Your hands
Wife or Girlfriend
An open mind

As in
www.howtodothings.com/family-relationships/how-to-touch-a-woman-to-drive-her-wild

http://www.pawnation.com/2011/01/27/would-you-choose-your-pet-over-your-spouse/

http://blogs.laweekly.com/afterdark/2011/09/11_tips_for_dating_women_with.php

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2010/01/13/personality_dogs_cats/

Single dose of hallucinogen may create lasting personality change

Psilocybn

A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measureable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.

Lasting change was found in the part of the personality known as openness, which includes traits related to imagination, aesthetics, feelings, abstract ideas and general broad-mindedness. Changes in these traits, measured on a widely used and scientifically validated personality inventory, were larger in magnitude than changes typically observed in healthy adults over decades of life experiences, the scientists say. Researchers in the field say that after the age of 30, personality doesn’t usually change significantly.

“Normally, if anything, openness tends to decrease as people get older,” says study leader Roland R. Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The research, approved by Johns Hopkins’ Institutional Review Board, was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

The study participants completed two to five eight-hour drug sessions, with consecutive sessions separated by at least three weeks. Participants were informed they would receive a “moderate or high dose” of psilocybin during one of their drug sessions, but neither they nor the session monitors knew when.

During each session, participants were encouraged to lie down on a couch, use an eye mask to block external visual distraction, wear headphones through which music was played and focus their attention on their inner experiences.

Personality was assessed at screening, one to two months after each drug session and approximately 14 months after the last drug session. Griffiths says he believes the personality changes found in this study are likely permanent since they were sustained for over a year by many.

Nearly all of the participants in the new study considered themselves spiritually active (participating regularly in religious services, prayer or meditation). More than half had postgraduate degrees. The sessions with the otherwise illegal hallucinogen were closely monitored and volunteers were considered to be psychologically healthy

“We don’t know whether the findings can be generalized to the larger population,” Griffiths says.

As a word of caution, Griffiths also notes that some of the study participants reported strong fear or anxiety for a portion of their daylong psilocybin sessions, although none reported any lingering harmful effects. He cautions, however, that if hallucinogens are used in less well supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to harmful behaviors.

Griffiths says lasting personality change is rarely looked at as a function of a single discrete experience in the laboratory. In the study, the change occurred specifically in those volunteers who had undergone a “mystical experience,” as validated on a questionnaire developed by early hallucinogen researchers and refined by Griffiths for use at Hopkins. He defines “mystical experience” as among other things, “a sense of interconnectedness with all people and things accompanied by a sense of sacredness and reverence.”

Personality was measured on a widely used and scientifically validated personality inventory, which covers openness and the other four broad domains that psychologists consider the makeup of personality: neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Only openness changed during the course of the study.

Griffiths says he believes psilocybin may have therapeutic uses. He is currently studying whether the hallucinogen has a use in helping cancer patients handle the depression and anxiety that comes along with a diagnosis, and whether it can help longtime cigarette smokers overcome their addiction.

“There may be applications for this we can’t even imagine at this point,” he says. “It certainly deserves to be systematically studied.”

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Thanks to Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions for this article.

As in

iwww.labspaces.net/113830/Single_dose_of_hallucinogen_may_create_lasting_personality_change/

Girls and Purses: the great mystery of Size, Weight and Function- QUIZ

Find the Boy among the 11 Purses .!

Purse content in girls watch are one of the greatest mysteries of time. We asked 11 people what would be their must have items to keep in their appendices..one of these turn out to be a boy …others, just big sexy purses. And the mystery goes ticker.

The readers suggest :

1.Well, a mini sewing kit (you never know), deodorant, body spray (just in case), tissues, a pen, mints or gum, and maybe some emergency money. Depending on how big your purse is most of this will fit and if you have a big purse then you can add other stuff in there like a water bottle, a snack (just in case you get hungry).

2.band aides, a can of formula ( if u have a baby), gum for ur breathe, lipstick, back up credit card, clear nail polish, in case u get a run in ur panty hose, eye drops, portable toothepaste and tooth brush, tissues, burn cream, asprin, mirror, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, bottle of water, nail file, hair brush, nail clippers, hair ties, cell phone, phone book, thermometer, cough medicine

3.hello kitty band-aids,baby powder,tiny roll of toilet tissue,lotion,tiny can of hair spray,hand sanitizer,multi vitamins,fingernail file (which doubles as a screwdriver),breath mints/gum,10 dollars emergency money,pen,ultra compact umbrella and dental floss

4. besides the obvious like makeup, KEYS, wallet, and such. I’d say, a few bandaids, since I find myself getting hurt constantly. If you have allergies, allergy med, or any other med that might be needed to take frequently. If you have astigmatism, glasses, and sunglasses during sunny days.

5. condoms!! Also, band aid, chapstick, little tube of sunblock, $5 or so for emergencies, gum or mints (for different kinds of emergencies!) And, if you are a mom, there is a whole different list!!!

6. a mini deoderant stick, lip gloss, a mirror, a hair tie or clip, body splash, lotion, cover up, one of those tide bleach sticks, a cell phone, band aid, asprin, change (coins)………..thats all i can think of at the moment

7. douches, wipes, vagisil, feminine spray, deodorant, cotton panties, vaseline, vicodin, pepper spray, baby powder, enemas, razors, tweezers, cotton balls, peroxide, rubbing alcohol, holy water, pliers, etc.

8. Knives, lint, condom, porn, gun, steroids, suicide pill, dephribulatorr, buttons, a gb of RAM, sharp pens, wig, fake mustache and a toe nail clipper.

9. change purse, a brush, and some cosmetics, tampons/pads mabye a pair or panties, toothbrush, bandaids, croosword book, pens, wallet, changpurse, etc…

10. Safety pins, incase something “let’s loose!” Extra change incase your cell isn’t charged and you are on the date from hell. Pen, paper, extra money, Tylenol, Kleenex.

11. uh, a gun! Geez, what if someone picks you up and takes you away to rape you? If you don’t have a gun you’ve got nothing to protect yourself with.

Nothing can prevent the world from douche bags.;)

The Stop Online Piracy Act and You (SOPA)

The Stop Online Piracy Act and You: A Primer

I’m a world-class nerd. But that doesn’t mean I understand the nuts and bolts of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an internet censorship bill on which the House Judiciary Commitee held hearings today. (You can watch the hearings live here.)

Worryingly, I’m not alone: As theWashington Post reports, members of the Judiciary Committee that met to amend SOPA tended towards identifying themselves as ignorant of the inner workings of the internet. “If I had a dime for every time someone in the hearing used the phrase ‘I’m not a nerd’ or ‘I’m no tech expert, but they tell me . . .,’” writes thePost‘s Alexandra Petri, “I’d have a large number of dimes and still feel intensely worried about the future of the uncensored Internet.”

In an effort to educate myself, I’ve tracked down a bunch of articles, comics, and infographics about the bill. Considering that the ramifications of this bill sound dire at best, I thought it would be a good idea to assemble some of my findings here.

Ars Technica has an article that breaks the entire situation down. From the intro:

Imagine a world in which any intellectual property holder can, without ever appearing before a judge or setting foot in a courtroom, shut down any website’s online advertising programs and block access to credit card payments. The credit card processors and the advertising networks would be required to take quick action against the named website; only the filing of a “counter notification” by the website could get service restored.

It’s the world envisioned by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) in today’s introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the US House of Representatives. This isn’t some off-the-wall piece of legislation with no chance of passing, either; it’s the House equivalent to the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act, which would officially bring Internet censorship to the US as a matter of law.

Calling its plan a “market-based system to protect US customers and prevent US funding of sites dedicated to theft of US property,” the new bill gives broad powers to private actors. Any holder of intellectual property rights could simply send a letter to ad network operators like Google and to payment processors like MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, demanding these companies cut off access to any site the IP holder names as an infringer.

The scheme is much like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) “takedown notices,” in which a copyright holder can demand some piece of content be removed from sites like YouTube with a letter. The content will be removed unless the person who posted the content objects; at that point, the copyright holder can decide if it wants to take the person to court over the issue.

Here, though, the stakes are higher. Rather than requesting the takedown of certain hosted material, intellectual property owners can go directly for the jugular: marketing and revenue for the entire site. So long as the intellectual property holders include some “specific facts” supporting their infringement claim, ad networks and payment processors will have five days to cut off contact with the website in question.

The scheme is largely targeted at foreign websites which do not recognize US law, and which therefore will often refuse to comply with takedown requests. But the potential for abuse-even inadvertent abuse-here is astonishing, given the terrifically outsized stick with which content owners can now beat on suspected infringers.

But how does this affect you as a gamer? The gaming news site Gameranx has posted an article with the following breakdown of game-centric things that can be affected by the bill:

As a gamer, here’s what you stand to lose if SOPA passes:

* Mods
* “Let’s Play” videos
* Video replays
* Video reviews and commentary
* Unofficial game guides
* The taking, hosting, and sharing of screenshots, artistic or otherwise
* Image forums (Reddit, 4chan)

That seems fairly extreme to me—from my read on things, if a company supports mods, then mods won’t be taken away. The power is in the hands of the content holder. But all the same, it sounds like a company or IP holder would theoretically be allowed to go after all of those things.

The website Get Your Censor On takes a more humorous but no less chilling approach to the topic, putting together a series of comics that depict a funny but also freaky future. The full thing is worth checking out, but here’s a snippet:

The comic (and several other sites) link to the page Americancensorship.org, which gives a lot of easy ways to get in touch with congresspeople while also offering plenty more info, including this infographic, which presents a similarly anti-SOPA/Protect IP Act breakdown. (The full infographic is included at the bottom of this post.)

There are many more resources available, should you want to know more about SOPA and its ramifications. You can contact your congressperson throughAmericancensorship.org and there is also a petition going on Reddit. Our sister site Gizmodo hasalso shared an easy way to tell Congress you don’t support the bill.

Get informed and get involved. You can at least do better than Iowa Representitive Steve King, who, while seated at the Judiciary Committee hearing today, tweeted this wildly ironicstatement:

Some members of Congress may not care about this bill, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Republished from http://kotaku.com

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BELIEF IS NOT A MONOLITHIC THING: Anosognosia

BELIEF IS NOT A MONOLITHIC THING: Anosognosia

Confabulation and anosognosia

In a new investigation, Aikaterini Fotopoulou and her colleagues have shown that some patients fitting this description have a residual, subconscious awareness of their disability.

Single dose of hallucinogen may create lasting personality change

Girls and Purses: the great mystery of Size, Weight and Function- QUIZ

The Stop Online Piracy Act and You (SOPA)

The Stop Online Piracy Act and You: A Primer

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BELIEF IS NOT A MONOLITHIC THING: Anosognosia

Confabulation and anosognosia

In a new investigation, Aikaterini Fotopoulou and her colleagues have shown that some patients fitting this description have a residual, subconscious awareness of their disability.

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Sensual touching is an art that you should definitely spend some time mastering — because it will be incredibly rewarding to both you and the woman in your life.

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The Stop Online Piracy Act and You: A Primer

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