Bartlett viewed thinking as a high level skill exhibiting ballistic properties that he called its “point of no return”. This paper explores one aspect of cognition through the use of a simple model...

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Orienting of attention

Purpose To evaluate the accuracy of conventional and new methods of Papanicolaou (Pap) testing when used to detect cervical cancer and its precursors. Data sources Systematic search of English-language literature through October 1999 using MEDLINE, EMBASE, other computerized databases, and hand searching. Study selection All studies that compared Pap testing (conventional methods, computer screening or rescreening, or monolayer cytology) with a concurrent reference standard (histologic examination, colposcopy, or cytology). Data extraction Two reviewers independently reviewed selection criteria and completed 2 x 2 tables for each study. Data synthesis 94 studies of the conventional Pap test and three studies of monolayer cytology met inclusion criteria. No studies of computerized screening were included. Data were organized by cytologic and histologic thresholds used to define disease. For conventional Pap tests, estimates of sensitivity and specificity varied greatly in individual studies. Methodologic quality and frequency of histologic abnormalities also varied greatly between studies. In the 12 studies with the least biased estimates, sensitivity ranged from 30% to 87% and specificity ranged from 86% to 100%. Conclusions Insufficient high-quality data exist to estimate test operating characteristics of new cytologic methods for cervical screening. Future studies of these technologies should apply adequate reference standards. Most studies of the conventional Pap test are severely biased: The best estimates suggest that it is only moderately accurate and does not achieve concurrently high sensitivity and specificity. Cost-effectiveness models of cervical cancer screening should use more conservative estimates of Pap test sensitivity.

Accuracy of the Papanicolaou test in screening for and follow-up of cervical cytologic abnormalities: a systematic review.

Absence seizures are the most pure form of generalized epilepsy. They are characterized in the electroencephalogram by widespread bilaterally synchronous spike-wave discharges (SWDs), which are the reflections of highly synchronized oscillations in thalamocortical networks. To reveal network mechanisms responsible for the initiation and generalization of the discharges, we studied the interrelationships between multisite cortical and thalamic field potentials recorded during spontaneous SWDs in the freely moving WAG/Rij rat, a genetic model of absence epilepsy. Nonlinear association analysis revealed a consistent cortical "focus" within the peri-oral region of the somatosensory cortex. The SWDs recorded at other cortical sites consistently lagged this focal site, with time delays that increased with electrode distance (corresponding to a mean propagation velocity of 1.4 m/sec). Intra-thalamic relationships were more complex and could not account for the observed cortical propagation pattern. Cortical and thalamic sites interacted bi-directionally, whereas the direction of this coupling could vary throughout one seizure. However, during the first 500 msec, the cortical focus was consistently found to lead the thalamus. These findings argue against the existence of one common subcortical pacemaker for the generation of generalized spike-wave discharges characteristic for absence seizures in the rat. Instead, the results suggest that a cortical focus is the dominant factor in initiating the paroxysmal oscillation within the corticothalamic loops, and that the large-scale synchronization is mediated by ways of an extremely fast intracortical spread of seizure activity. Analogous mechanisms may underlie the pathophysiology of human absence epilepsy.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/22/4/1480.full.pdf

Cortical Focus Drives Widespread Corticothalamic Networks during Spontaneous Absence Seizures in Rats

Sociopaths are “outstanding” members of society in two senses: politically, they draw our attention because of the inordinate amount of crime they commit, and psychologically, they hold our fascination because most ofus cannot fathom the cold, detached way they repeatedly harm and manipulate others. Proximate explanations from behavior genetics, child development, personality theory, learning theory, and social psychology describe a complex interaction of genetic and physiological risk factors with demographic and micro environmental variables that predispose a portion of the population to chronic antisocial behavior. More recent, evolutionary and game theoretic models have tried to present an ultimate explanation of sociopathy as the expression of a frequency-dependent life strategy which is selected, in dynamic equilibrium, in response to certain varying environmental circumstances. This paper tries to integrate the proximate, developmental models with the ultimate, evolutionary ones, suggesting that two developmentally different etiologies of sociopathy emerge from two different evolutionary mechanisms. Social strategies for minimizing the incidence of sociopathic behavior in modern society should consider the two different etiologies and the factors that contribute to them.

The sociobiology of sociopathy: An integrated evolutionary model

Patients with unilateral temporal epileptic foci were contrasted with normal subjects and patients with neuromuscular disorders in the evaluation of specific psychosocial aspects of behavior. Eighteen traits were assessed in equivalent questionnaires completed by both subjects and observers. The epileptic patients self-reported a distinctive profile of humorless sobriety, dependence, and obsessionalism; raters discriminated temporal lobe epileptics on the basis of circumstantiality, philosophical interests, and anger. The right temporal epileptic displayed emotional tendencies in contrast to ideational traits of left temporal epileptic. Right temporal epileptics exhibited "denial," while left temporal epileptics demonstrated a "catastrophic" overemphasis of dissocial behavior. The results support the hypotheses that sensory-affective associations are established within the temporal lobes, and that, in man, there exists a hemispheric asymmetry in the expression of affect.

Quantitative Analysis of Interictal Behavior in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

A study of thalamic and cortical rhythms in petit mal.

The structure of emotions reflected in epileptic experiences

The diagnosis of the major and minor syndromes of basilar insufficiency

Neural factors related to habitual aggression. Consideration of differences between those habitual aggressives and others who have committed crimes of violence.

Visual function in patients with homonymous hemianopia. III. The completion phenomenon; insight and attitude to the defect; and visual functional efficiency.

Denis Williams

Papers

A study of thalamic and cortical rhythms in petit mal.

The structure of emotions reflected in epileptic experiences

The diagnosis of the major and minor syndromes of basilar insufficiency

Neural factors related to habitual aggression. Consideration of differences between those habitual aggressives and others who have committed crimes of violence.

Visual function in patients with homonymous hemianopia. III. The completion phenomenon; insight and attitude to the defect; and visual functional efficiency.