# Question
Title: What is the most effective treatment for ADD and ADHD that excludes chemical prescriptions from a doctor?
Besides chemical medications that are prescribed that can increase the level of dopamine, and other important neurotransmitters in the brain. What is the most effective natural treatment method for ADD, and ADHD?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Not much seems to work; psychotherapy appears questionable when the patients are re-evaluated by someone else. The only thing with a minor but generally applicable effect is free fatty acid supplementation, although the effect may be so minor as to have no clinical value.

Of course, most of these findings come from a meta-analysis (Sonuga-Barke 2013) published in a psychiatry journal...

> Two different analyses were performed. When the outcome measure was based on ADHD assessments by raters closest to the therapeutic setting, all dietary (standardized mean differences=0.21-0.48) and psychological (standardized mean differences=0.40-0.64) treatments produced statistically significant effects. However, when the best probably blinded assessment was employed, effects remained significant for free fatty acid supplementation (standardized mean difference=0.16) and artificial food color exclusion (standardized mean difference=0.42) but were substantially attenuated to nonsignificant levels for other treatments.
>
> CONCLUSIONS: Free fatty acid supplementation produced small but significant reductions in ADHD symptoms even with probably blinded assessments, although the clinical significance of these effects remains to be determined. Artificial food color exclusion produced larger effects but often in individuals selected for food sensitivities. Better evidence for efficacy from blinded assessments is required for behavioral interventions, neurofeedback, cognitive training, and restricted elimination diets before they can be supported as treatments for core ADHD symptoms.

The editorial that accompanied this paper had this pull-out:

> Behavioral treatments have been demonstrated to be helpful for children with co-occurring disorders and symptoms, although this blinded analysis did not show efficacy for core ADHD symptoms.

And it's worded that way because a prior meta-analysis (Fabiano 2009) using less stringent criteria (no blinging required) found (of course) that behavioral interventions work.

Regarding food colorants, only about 8% of ADHD children are estimated by a different meta-analysis (Nigg 2012) to be affected/sensitive.

And a meta-analysis of diet interventions Pelsser 2017 was quite skeptical of most stuff:

> Considering the small average ESs \[effect size\] PUFA \[poly-unsaturated fatty acid\] supplementation is unlikely to provide a tangible contribution to ADHD treatment, while further research is required for AFC \[artificial food color\] elimination before advising this intervention as ADHD treatment. The average FFD \[Few Foods Diets\] ES is substantial, offering treatment opportunities in subgroups of children with ADHD not responding to or too young for medication.

So the cool new thing is FFD now. Since the last paper is freely available... I won't say much more, except that it may take a year to permute food choices until the right few foods are determined. They do say in the (body of the) paper that (owing to this time-scale issue):

> large-scale implementation of the few-foods approach would not be a realistic recommendation.

I have to wonder why that didn't make it into the abstract.

# Answer
> 2 votes
It seems that things like aerobic exercise and mindfulness meditation can help alleviate some of the symptoms of ADHD. Aerobic exercise, in particular, helps increases many of the neurotransmitters involved in ADHD such as dopamine. Mindfulness meditation helps strengthen executive function and can be a good strategy for regulating emotions and behaviors.

**Source**: http://www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/ADHD\_EF\_and\_SR.pdf

# Answer
> 2 votes
Not an expert on the field, but neuro feedback seems to be even more effective than drugs, in particular regarding the long term benefits. Here I cite an additude article which summarized four studies. Clearly, none of the studies is bullet proof, but I think this is pretty good evidence.

> Monastra, et al. (2002): 100 six- to 19-year-olds with ADHD were treated for one year with a combination of Ritalin, behavior therapy, and school accommodations. Half of parents also opted to include neurofeedback in the treatment plan. The youth receiving neurofeedback did better than did the other subjects on parent and teacher reports, and computerized attention tests. EEG scans showed that their brainwaves had normalized. After discontinuing medication, only the patients who received neurofeedback saw persistent results. This study is criticized because its participants were not randomly assigned to treatment groups.

> Levesque, et al. (2006): 20 eight- to 12-year-old children with ADHD were randomly assigned to receive 40 weekly neurofeedback treatment sessions, or to a waitlist control condition with no treatment. At the end of 40 weeks, the children who had received neurofeedback showed noteworthy improvement, as captured by parent ratings and laboratory measures. fMRI scans showed significant change in brainwave patterns for the treated children, but no change for control children. This study was limited by its small sample size.

> Gevensleben, et al. (2009): 102 eight- to 12-year-olds with ADHD were randomly chosen to receive neurofeedback or computerized attention training. Both groups received 36 active treatment sessions over 18 weeks. Researchers tried to keep parents and teachers from knowing which treatment the children received. This study sought to remedy shortcomings of previous research with a randomized control group, along with a larger sample size. At the end of the study, the children in the neurofeedback group showed 0.6 greater reductions in parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms when compared to the computer-training group. Six months later, the differences remained, and parents of the children treated with neurofeedback reported fewer homework difficulties.

> Meisel et al. (2013): 23 seven- to 14-year-olds were randomly assigned treatment with methylphenidate or 40 neurofeedback sessions. Both groups showed significant and equivalent reductions in parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms immediately after training ended, two months afterward — and the improvements persisted through a six-month follow-up. Teachers reported significant academic improvements in reading and writing skills for only the neurofeedback group, but it is not clear if teachers were blind to which group received which treatment.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, developmental-psychology, adhd
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# Question
Title: Does the human eye have a muscle that if paralyzed would make us only see things that are in motion?
In "Kwantechizm", a relatively popular book written by a Polish physicist Andrzej Dragan, I read that chickens move their head so that they can see things that are not in motion, with the following comment:

> (...) It is similar with humans, because our eye is built on a similar principle to that of a chicken's eye. But to avoid the need to bend the head, it has special muscles that make it vibrate quickly. It is only thanks to these vibrations that we can see anything. If someone does not believe, they can inject a special injection into their eye to relax the muscles and the eye will stop twitching and everything that is still around will become invisible. Only the things that will move by themselves will emerge from the complete blackness.

(translated using Google Translate)

Is that true? Which muscle could he be talking about?

# Answer
> 3 votes
**Short answer**
Eye musculature takes care of the movements of the eye, including microsaccades that prevent retinal fading (adaptation). If microsaccades are inhibited by inactivating the eye muscles, retinal images of still objects will rapidly fade. Moving objects will still be visible.

**Background**
I think the author of 'Kwantechizm' is referring to **microsaccades**. As Bryan alludes to in the last last few lines of the answer, the eye adapts swiftly to stimuli. Like any sensory system, continuous stimulation causes the sensory system to become unresponsive because of adaptation. In case of the eye microsaccades are believed to prevent fading of still retinal images because of slight eye movements that cause the retinal image to shift around on the retina in a random fashion (Martinez-Conde *et al*., 20004). Although a hotly debated topic, research on retinal implants have yielded anecdotal supportive evidence.

The (now discontinued) Argus II device is used to treat blindness. It is implanted onto the retina and delivers electrical stimuli to the retina that are guided by a head-worn camera. Microsaccades from the eye do not affect the retinal image anymore and it is indeed been reported that Argus II users' retinal images (phosphenes) elicited by the implant fade rapidly over time (Stronks *et al*., 2012). Argus II users therefore need to actively scan the environment by making head turns.

Fading has been reported to be far less severe in alpha-AMS implant, which was placed below the retina and had the photosensitive elements build onto the retinal chip. It therefore operates without an external camera and hence the natural microsaccades take care of the fading.

The muscles taking care of saccades and microsaccades depicted in Fig. 2. If these are paralyzed, static images will indeed fade, but head movements can remedy this effect. Moving objects will indeed still be seen, as the retinal image glides over the retina.

Fig. 1. Argus II system. Panel A: external parts, including the glasses mounted external camera. B: internal parts. source: Stronks & Dagnelie (2014)

Fig. 2. Eye musculature. source: Britannica

**References**
**-** Martinez-Conde *et al*., *Nature Rev Neurosci* (2004); **5**: 229–40
**-** Stronks *et al*., *IOVS* (2013); **54**(6): 3891-901
**-** Stronks & Dagnelie, *Exp Rev Med Dev* (2014); **11**(1): 23–30

# Answer
> 1 votes
I don't think the author is referring to any particular muscle, they are referring to the behavior of saccadic eye movements or just saccades. The words "vibrate" or "twitch" are also not quite right, but I am assuming this is mostly a translation issue.

The idea is that you don't see the world by just facing your eyes straight ahead like a camera. Even when you're looking at, say, a face, your eyes don't just point at the middle of the face and stay there, rather your gaze shifts all over to different parts of the face. Your brain builds a mental image of the whole face from all these movements that you are not particularly conscious of.

Here's an example:

Image credits: By Original file: SpooSpa. Derivative: Simon Viktória - Derivative work from File:Face of SpooSpa.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8711778

The black lines and points between are the path that someones eyes took while looking at a face. You'll see that they skip around especially to various features: the eyes, nose, and mouth, as well as around the edges.

These eye movements let you see everything in more detail: your vision is best at the fovea, so these movements position different parts of the world in front of you on your fovea in sequence. Your brain then simply *remembers* what the fovea saw, so instead of experiencing one small thing in focus and everything else as a blur, you have a full detailed picture of the world around.

The author is also referencing neural adaptation with the mention of moving stimuli: constant stimuli tend to be somewhat ignored by the brain, and even at the level of a single receptor you will see little response to constant stimuli, but big responses to changes. If you have a static scene and your eyes are fixed, there are no changes and so you would expect to have minimal neural activity. Moving stimuli, however, are always changing.

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Tags: neuroscience, perception, vision, sensation, adaptation
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# Question
Title: Which study proved that macaques were superior to humans in recalling in which some items appeared?
**Which studies proved that macaques were superior to humans in recalling in which a sequence of items appeared?**

I saw a video which reported on an experiment using computers, macaques and humans, I believe from the 80s or 90s:

* subjects (humans and macaques) played a video game and macaques performed vastly better than humans;
* the games consisted of two phases:
    1. in the first phase, a sequence of items (numbers, I believe) appear on the screen in distinct positions, at regular interval;
    2. in the second phase, the items are masked, and the subject is asked to select the items in the order in which they appeared.
* increasing the length of the sequence and reducing the time each item is shown quickly lost the human subjects, when the macaques subjects could play on instances which no humans answered correctly.

I would be interested in designing a software to repeat such experiment using modern computing devices such as tablets and smart phones, with other species of animals other than humans, but could not find the reference of the original study, nor whether similar studies had been performed since.

# Answer
> 3 votes
The 2011 article Working memory of numerals in chimpanzees by Sana Inoue and Tetsuro Matsuzawa is only 2 pages long but describes an experiment proving that chimpanzee memory may indeed be superior to human memory capability for numerical recollection.

There have been other similar studies comparing human abilities with that of other apes:

I hope such a list will be useful to others than me!

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Tags: animal-cognition, video-games
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# Question
Title: Why do SSRIs take multiple weeks to reach their full effect?
What is it about SSRIs that they require 2-4 weeks for their long-term effect to become present?

Is this the result of small accumulations over time in some aspect of the brain?

Are there other medicines which are known to have a delayed onset of effect like this?

# Answer
> 1 votes
**Short answer**
The delayed effect of serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors can be explained, at least in part, because of their actions on the downregulation of presynaptic 5HT1A receptors.

**Background**
When serotonin (5HT) uptake is inhibited by SSRIs, 5HT diffuses away from the synaptic cleft of the cells that release 5HT diffusely in the brain (Fig. 1). It is believed that eventually 5HT disperses in the extracellular space and reaches the dendritic regions of the cells releasing 5HT (Fig. 2).

The delayed action (say, 2 weeks) can be explained by 5HT's action on 5HT1A receptors in the dendritic region. After continuous activation of 5HT1A receptors, they start to downregulate, which in turn changes the firing pattern of the serotonergic neuron into a more fluttering mode over time. This mode of firing tends to release a lot more 5HT (Lucas et al., 2007), in turn increasing postsynaptic 5HT2A activation. Downregulation of 5HT1A receptors takes time, explaining the few weeks delayed onset (Fig. 2)*

**References**
**-** Duman, *Neuron* 2007;**55**:679-81
**-** Fregozo *et al*., *Serotonin - A Chemical Messenger Between All Types of Living Cells*, InTech Open (2017)
**-** Numennaa *et al*., *How can social and affective neuroscience explain various aspects of human everyday interaction? – From theory to methodology*. Sao Paulo: Hogrefe, 2020

**Note**
The frogozo *et al*. (2017) reference and extracted open access image in Fig. 2 are kind of dodgy, but the image, despite the typos (hiperpolarization should be hyperpolarization *etc*.), clearly depicts what I mean to convey here

Fig. 1. Raphe nuclei release 5HT throughout the brain. source: Nummenmaa *et al.*, 2020

Fig. 2. SSRIs block 5HT reuptake, causing presynaptic increases in 5HT. Direct effects are an increase of postsynaptic 5HT2A activation. Over time, say a few weeks, this buildup of 5HT causes a downregulation of inhibitory presynaptic 5HT1A receptors, in turn causing more flooding of the brain with 5HT. This point is where the real effects of SSRIs start to kick in. source: Fregozo *et al*. (2017)

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Tags: neuroscience, neurophysiology, psychopharmacology, neuro-transmitters
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# Question
Title: Do ADHD exams necessarily test ADHD or merely ADHD-PI?
I read on reddit and Wiki that the types of ADHD are ADHD-PI (predominantly inattentive), ADHD-C (combined) and ADHD-PH (predominantly hyperactive or impulsive).

In a psychological test intended to test attention maybe like a continuous performance task or a TOVA, if a test taker scores above average overall, does that say there "no evidence to ADHD" or merely "no evidence of ADHD-PI" ?

# Answer
I believe neither ADHD-PI or ADHD in general.

**I think the 'attention' in TOVA for example is measuring your short-term attention**. It's like playing 'memory' or 'concentration' or something maybe. This makes me think of the concept of 'ludic fallacy' by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. But eh Wikipedia does say TOVA is legit.

**Meanwhile the 'attention' in ADHD likely refers to executive function**, like your overall behaviour in life:

1. Do you focus on what you need to do in general at any point in the day?
2. Can you prioritise correctly what you're supposed to do?
3. Can you make adjustments accordingly for the unexpected things (being resilient, maybe even anti-fragile) ?
4. When some notification of something pops up, are you able to process it accordingly and delay gratification instead of impulsively giving in to the notification? Note: The notification need not be in phone. It could be someone in person telling you something. Or while you're checking and responding to e-mail, there's another e-mail that comes but it's not quite urgent or important.

I suspect a low exam result in a TOVA would be suggestive of something but a high exam result would be inconclusive, not just for ADHD-PI but also for ADHD-C, ADHD-PH and ADHD.
> -1 votes

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Tags: measurement, abnormal-psychology, methodology, adhd
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# Question
Title: Is it believed that ketamine has less side effects compared to SSRIs?
I was told that recent research shows that ketamine is equally effective to, and not more effective than, SSRIs when used as a regular medication, for example as a nasal spray.

However, is it believed that ketamine has less side effects than SSRIs, for example, weight gain, dependence, etc?

# Answer
> -1 votes
Basically- There are different receptor sets in the brain. Ketamine is a NMDA (glutamate) receptor antagonist. Sertraline, for ex. is an SSRI - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

Therefore, each drug has a different mechanism of action. Thus different side effect “profiles”.

Ketamine is 80% effective when used to treat Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder (quoting from peer-reviewed pubmed too lazy to find). It also “works” faster (but in a different fashion) than an SSRI will. You won’t see weight gain or sexual dysfunction side effects commonly associated with SSRI usage. There is “dependence” with both. However esketamine (s-isomer) when used therapeutically should not produce an overwhelming state of dependence.

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Tags: psychopharmacology
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# Question
Title: What is the "nails on a chalkboard" response?
Everyone is familiar with the squirmy, muscle-clenching response to hearing nails on a chalkboard. But I have known people to have this same response to other stimuli, such as:

* Velvety fabrics
* Styrofoam
* Nails on a zip

Interestingly, it's not just the sound but even the *thought* of these things that can provoke a reaction.

To the best of my knowledge, this is not a phobia, nor is it an allergy. So, is there a name for this response, and are there any known cases of it having been treated?

--

**Related:** Why is the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard so intolerable?

# Answer
> English and German speakers lack a single accessible linguistic label for the pattern of aversive reactions termed by Spanish speaking individuals as ‘grima’, whereas the elicitors of other emotions were accessible and accurately identified by German, English, as well as Spanish speakers (Gallo, et al. 2017).

If we English speaking people adopt the word from Spanish, just as we have adopted words from many languages over the centuries, the response you are referring to is called *Grima*, pronounced phonetically as *gree-mah* (see: https://www.spanishdict.com/pronunciation/grima).

If you are experiencing this as a result of more than the usual causes of grima, you would alternatively be suffering from a degree of *Misophonia* (Swedo, et al. 2021).

Also, alternatively, an abnormally strong reaction to sound, occurring within the auditory pathways, in levels that would not trouble a normal individual is called *hyperacusis*, whereas an actual **fear** of any sounds is *phonophobia* (Asha'ari, et al. 2010).

## References

Asha'ari, Z. A., Mat Zain, N., & Razali, A. (2010). Phonophobia and hyperacusis: practical points from a case report. *The Malaysian journal of medical sciences, 17*(1), 49–51. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3216140/

Schweiger Gallo, I., Fernández-Dols, J. M., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Keil, A. (2017). Grima: A Distinct Emotion Concept?. *Frontiers in psychology, 8*, 131. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00131

Swedo, S., Baguley, D. M., Denys, D., Dixon, L. J., Erfanian, M., Fioretti, A., ... & Raver, S. M. (2021). A consensus definition of misophonia: using a delphi process to reach expert agreement. *medRxiv*. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.05.21254951
> 3 votes

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Tags: sensation, evolution, phobia, psychoacoustics
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# Question
Title: Can you grow a small brain network in a petri dish?
Perhaps with stem cells, genetic engineering like CRISPR, or just cellular extraction and harvesting/reproduction in some way, we could isolate and incubate a single neuron in an artificial environment, for example, a Petri dish or something similar.

Has anyone succeeded in doing so for some N number of neurons and connecting them via the synapses, as they are in the brain?

And then, trying to stimulate some of the neurons and exploring if that neural network can be used for anything, or used to study how the greater brain works?

Thank you

# Answer
*cerebral organoid*, or brain organoid, describes an artificially grown, *in vitro*, miniature organ resembling the brain.

Lancaster, et al. (2013) states:

> We have developed a human pluripotent stem cell-derived 3D organoid culture system, termed cerebral organoid, which develops various discrete though interdependent brain regions. These include cerebral cortex containing progenitor populations that organize and produce mature cortical neuron subtypes. Furthermore, cerebral organoids recapitulate features of human cortical development, namely characteristic progenitor zone organization with abundant outer radial glial stem cells.

## Reference

Lancaster, M. A., Renner, M., Martin, C. A., Wenzel, D., Bicknell, L. S., Hurles, M. E., ... & Knoblich, J. A. (2013). Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly. *Nature, 501*(7467), 373-379. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12517
> 1 votes

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Tags: neuroanatomy
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title: What is the name of this phenomenon?

text:
# Question
Title: What is the name of this phenomenon?
If you don't know anything about trees and plants, all you see in the forest is a bunch of trees. But if you know the names and appearances of different plants, you might see oaks, elms, pines etc. Similarly, when you hear a foreign language, you just hear sounds that have no meaning and that you cannot remember, but if you know the language, you hear the individual words and the meaning they convey. If you look at a crowd of unfamiliar people, you see a crowd but if there is one person you know in the crowd, that person will stand out in your perception.

It seems to me that a general feature of our cognition is that we organize our perception by learning categories/patterns/prototypes. The undifferentiated totality of our sensory input is presented in our awareness as a multitude of known objects. As we learn more about a certain subject, for instance a language or about trees or about guitars or whatever, we acquire new categories that facilitates our perception which allows us to be more discriminate in our perception and in our memory. If I visit someone who has a guitar in his or her home, I might notice and also remember that the guitar is a sunburst fender stratocaster with a 70's type neck, whereas my friend who does not know anything about guitar might struggle to remember even that there was a guitar.

What is the name of this general phenomenon, this basic aspect of our cognition?

I have come across the term "acquired distinctiveness", for instance in this paper: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1074.4272&rep=rep1&type=pdf

But that term seems to refer to a particular type of experimental paradigm in cognitive science rather than the phenomenon itself. Is there a broad, conceptual term for this feature of cognition?

# Answer
> 2 votes
I don't know the word for it or if one exists but you are potentially referring to an idea that has drawn a very large body of cognition research, so hopefully I can provide some pointers.

Abstraction of knowledge is a very influential idea in cognition research in general, for example, see schema theory (e.g. McVee, Dunsmore & Gavelek, 2005). Conceptual knowledge indeed affects attention (Johnston & Dark, 1986). The exact mechanisms are complex and up to debate, but empirical results do find that experts in a domain have distinctive organizational structures in perception, attention, and memory, for example in chess (Simon & Chase, 1973).

This is not, however, a complete view; there are other theories of cognitive representation as well, emphasizing examples, prototypes, or even specific examples rather than abstractions (search "exemplar theory" for an example). If you wish to dive into the literature, I suggest starting with reading an introductory textbook on cognitive psychology / cognitive science if you haven't already. "Knowledge representation" and "memory" are the topics most related to what you're asking.

## References

McVee, M. B., Dunsmore, K., & Gavelek, J. R. (2005). Schema theory revisited. Review of educational research, 75(4), 531-566.

Johnston, W. A., & Dark, V. J. (1986). Selective attention. Annual review of psychology, 37(1), 43-75.

Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive psychology, 4(1), 55-81.

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Tags: cognition, auditory-discrimination
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title: What is dissociation?

text:
# Question
Title: What is dissociation?
When searching the internet for a definitive description of what dissociation is, I get a mixture of results which confuses.

Wikipedia states:

> Dissociation, as a concept that has been developed over time, is any of a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences.

HealthyPlace says:

> Dissociation can be defined as disruptions in aspects of consciousness, identity, memory, physical actions and/or the environment.

What exactly is dissociation? Is dissociation the same when under the influence of dissociatives? What about dissociative amnesia?

# Answer
The definition of dissociation in psychology is given in Google Dictionary as:

> \[the\] separation of normally related mental processes, resulting in one group functioning independently from the rest, leading in extreme cases to disorders such as multiple personality

## Let's put this into plain English.

According to the American Psychological Association's DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th Ed.; APA, 2013), dissociation is:

> a disruption of and/or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior (p. 291).

The APA's Dictionary of Psychology further clarifies this with (**emphasis mine**):

> a defense mechanism in which conflicting impulses are kept apart or **threatening ideas and feelings are separated from the rest of the psyche**. See compartmentalization.

Basically, when you are dissociating, you are **"disconnecting yourself" from what is going on around you during a period of time**. The period of time can be seconds, to minutes, and maybe hours over a number of days or longer.

**This can happen with or without trauma**. For example, there can be dissociation experienced via "dissociatives" (dissociative anaesthetics such as Ketamine or Nitrous Oxide).

Dissociation can also be a way the mind copes with too much stress (NHS n.d.), and dissociative disorders are mental health problems which can develop as a result of these episodes of dissociation. Dissociative Amnesia is one of them.

The NHS states that:

> Some people with dissociative amnesia find themselves in a strange place without knowing how they got there (NHS n.d.).

That is because maybe, a PTSD sufferer let's say, might start to dissociate when they are in an area which a traumatic event occurred. Combat veterans may become startled by a car backfiring, which then leads to sudden panic and forgetting how, or why, they got to that place.

> They may have travelled there on purpose, or wandered in a confused state.
>
> These blank episodes may last minutes, hours or days. In rare cases, they can last months or years.

Memories can be "fractured" during dissociative episodes and all memories are plastic (see my answer to Can people improve their memory by training themselves to recall previously forgotten memories? and my answer to PTSD based on false memories.

There can be gaps in the memories of what happened during traumatic times due to dissociation. The disconnection from what is going on around you can take many forms. You could be just taking yourself, in a dream-like state, to a totally different place where you feel safer to block out what is actually happening. There can be brief moments where this doesn't work due to extreme pain for example, although in some situations extreme pain can even be blocked.

Some who dissociated during trauma have reported that they just "disconnected from their body" (out-of-body or near death experiences) and it was like they were seeing things happen to themselves, but like in the third-person. Like they were watching a fictional drama of themselves going through the event.

This can lead to that person questioning whether what they saw actually did happen, and they can also not remember what was blocked with the dissociation, hence, **dissociative** amnesia.

**If you are mentally strong enough to watch it**, a good example of dissociation was demonstrated in the fictional TV series Outlander, in Season 5 Episode 12 — Never My Love (Starz, 2020). In the season, the protagonist (Claire), originally from the 1960s is experiencing America from 1770 to 1772 and in this episode, she suffers the ordeal of multiple rapes.

During the rapes, she dissociates and in her mind, close friends and family are with her in the 60s, but little bits of information about what is happening gets through in drips in a disorientating fashion. More can be read about this episode at https://www.outlandertvnews.com/2020/05/outlander-review-episode-512-never-my-love-season-finale/ and https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/outlander-season-5-finale-recap-episode-12-never-my-love.html

## References

APA. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). *American Psychiatric Pub*. https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm

NHS. (n.d.). *Dissociative Disorders* https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/dissociative-disorders/
> 1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, abnormal-psychology, trauma, dissociation
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# Question
Title: Does psychological health relate to cognitive ability?
I think every person is in a state between depressed and happy. Sometimes due to life experience swinging from one side to another. My question is, does cognitive ability change based on one's psychiatric state?

It is intuitive to think that when one is in a normal rested state that their ability would be better than if they are depressed but what about the changes in the "in between levels". Would a person perform better on cognitive tests when they're more happy or so?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Symptoms of depression are typically found to correlate negatively with cognitive function, though this isn't the sort of thing that is amenable to experiment so research must rely on observation of people with and without depression and it can be difficult to control for confounding factors.

Here's an example meta analysis:

*McDermott, L. M., & Ebmeier, K. P. (2009). A meta-analysis of depression severity and cognitive function. Journal of affective disorders, 119(1-3), 1-8.*

Quoting from their abstract:

> Significant correlations between depression severity and cognitive performance were found in the domains of episodic memory, executive function, and processing speed, but not for semantic memory or visuo-spatial memory. For both timed and un-timed cognitive measures there were equally significant correlations with depression severity.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology
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title: When/how are suicide attempts reported?

text:
# Question
Title: When/how are suicide attempts reported?
There is something called the "gender paradox" which relates to differences in suicide attempt and suicide death rates between genders.

A very important piece of information I've been searching for is the definition of "suicide attempts." More importantly, how and when they are reported.

As a firefighter/EMR, I've had my fair share of calls, and am wondering which of these four would count as a suicide attempts:

* person expresses intent to friend/family, 911 called, denies intent, scene left
* person expresses intent to friend/family, 911 called, admit to intent, taken to mental facility
* person found attempting suicide, 911 called, non-urgent medical situation, taken to medical facility
* person found attempting suicide, 911 called, life-threatening situation, taken to medical facility

Further, is this typically reported by the first responders, hospital, or both?

# Answer
Based off an answer from the medical lead of my department, a comment above, some CDC data (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/suicide-data-statistics.html), and a bit of pondering: I more or less have an answer.

1. First of all, it appears the majority of statistics come from self reporting, with a small portion involving hospitalizations.:
2. Secondly, whether or not a report is put in appears to be somewhat discretionary: which is to say, not every psychiatric hospitalization necessarily counts as an attempt.

Further, given the overwhelming majority that self-reports have to hospitalizations, the exact specifics of how/when hospitals report can be given a bit more tolerance. Even at a tolerance of +/25%, they still only account for 10-15% of reports.
> 1 votes

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Tags: gender, health-psychology
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# Question
Title: Can some people be selectively psycopathic/sociopathic towards a specific race/ethnicity of people?
Psycopaths tend to display remorselessbess while normal people don't.

But imagine 18th century USA, where Slaves were considered lower than animals.

Or consider, a modern day college group, where there are "cool kids" (rich, sophisticated, socially charismatic) and tbe "undesirables" (mediocre intelligence, poor and rustic).

In both of these cases, many people would show a lack of remorse towards the slaves and undesirables while behaving normally with other people.

Does this point to selective psycopathy? Can we truly classify the people here (those who are judging) as being g psychopathic?

# Answer
psychopathy is not aggression. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that is many things, which includes, but is not limited to, a lack of remorse, for example. A "cool kid" or a white person in the slave era are not psychopaths, they commit these actions for many societal, personal, and psychological reasons that could or could not be diagnosed into several different categories. psychopathy isn't "doing bad things", do not confuse the two. Also, no, discrimination is not psychopathy either.
> -1 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, personality, evolutionary-psychology
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# Question
Title: What is the name of the tendency to portray oneself in the positive light?
I know it exists and it has a name...

But my google-fu skills are lacking, due to a pretty niche concept that uses a lot of generic keywords.

There is a fallacy / mental model / a tendency for people to portray themselves in a positive light.

I know about *"80% of drivers thinking they are better than average"* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger\_effect and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory\_superiority but it is not exactly what I'm looking for.

**CONCRETE EXAMPLE**

> Have you ever taken / ingested / consumed cannabis?

Answer "YES" to this question would admit doing something illegal, with potentially negative consquences, including the fact that the researcher might be an undercover cop. Therefore, even if the genuine answer is "YES", there is a non-zero probability that the recorded answer is "NO"

To account for this tendency `INSERT NAME HERE _____________` I would like to suggest an alternative design of the same question that involves a 2nd researcher

> "We are aware of the tendency `INSERT NAME HERE _____________`
>
> "We are working towards legalization efforts..."
>
> "This will be treated in the strictest confidence..."
>
> "We know that asking "YES / NO" questions about drug use can make people..."
>
> "Our goal is to obtain more accurate estimate..."

**CONCRETE EXAMPLE 2**

3rd April 2022 source (behind a paywall)

> Orban’s bid for fourth straight term comes down to knife-edge vote

5th April 2022 source (behind a paywall)

> Crushing victory gives Viktor Orban scope to tighten grip on Hungary

Same with Trump and other socially unpopular candidates.

### More google-fu

*"anonymity bias"* \- loads of interesting research papers, including one specifically about cannabis (link):

Of course the sample size is small but the discrepancy is clearly visible (other research papers confirm it too).

I am aware that anonymity might not be enough to obtain accurate results, that's why the design of the study with the 2nd researcher but I just want to sound a little bit smarter and read more about `INSERT NAME HERE _____________` \- surely it has a name?

---

**EDIT:** if it does not have a name, I'll take the "Robertson Syndrome"

### UPDATE: Friday 7th October 2022

> **How did Brazil’s pollsters underestimate support for Bolsonaro?**

> The former army captain‘s surprisingly successful showing is one of several examples in recent years where polling has been off the mark, experts said, especially when it comes to support for right-wing and far-right politicians.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/6/how-did-brazils-pollsters-underestimate-support-for-bolsonaro

> According to Flores-Macias, one reason support for right-wing and far-right candidates is underrepresented globally is due to hesitance on the part of their supporters to reveal their real plans on Election Day.

> “This often has to do with **social desirability bias** – in that a lot of voters a reluctant to show their true preferences, thinking that if they do it’s not the response that is politically correct or socially acceptable,” he said.

# Answer
> 2 votes
One particularly fitting term is **impression management**. From Wikipedia:

> Impression management is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. \[...\] Individuals construct an image of themselves to claim personal identity, and present themselves in a manner that is consistent with that image. \[...\] Impression management can distort the results of empirical research that relies on interviews and surveys, a phenomenon commonly referred to as "social desirability bias".

As an effect, we have **social desirability bias**. From Wikipedia:

> In social science research, social-desirability bias is a type of response bias that is the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others. It can take the form of over-reporting "good behavior" or under-reporting "bad", or undesirable behavior. The tendency poses a serious problem with conducting research with self-reports. This bias interferes with the interpretation of average tendencies as well as individual differences.

A related term is **self-monitoring**. From Wikipedia:

> Self-monitoring \[...\] describes the extent to which people monitor their self-presentations, expressive behavior, and nonverbal affective displays. \[...\] Self-monitoring is defined as a personality trait that refers to an ability to regulate behavior to accommodate social situations. \[...\] Some personality types commonly act spontaneously (low self-monitors) and others are more apt to purposely control and consciously adjust their behavior (high self-monitors).

# Answer
> 1 votes
### virtue signalling

> the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.

There is a slight difference - not in public.

The anonymous researcher is "public of 1" but the same mechanism prevails.

### fear of prosecution

That applies for North Korea, where supreme leader has 110% approval rating.

# Answer
> 0 votes
"Interpersonal grandiosity" and "ego-centricism" are other approaches defining those that "have a tendency to portray themeselves in a positive light". Although it seems you are looking for a definition from the lens of social psychology rather than more humanistic approaches. A more traditional humanistic approach to the tendency you describe is "narcissism". But, narcissism has other facets other than grandiosity, such as devaluing others.

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Tags: drugs, model, meta-analysis, sampling
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title: Introductory material on psychotherapy

text:
# Question
Title: Introductory material on psychotherapy
As a complete outsider to the subject, I would like to start learning about psychotherapy. To this end would you be able to suggest a starting point, say, an introductory book which I can go through, to then start exploring more and more specific directions?

Related: What books should I study to have a decent understanding of psychology?

# Answer
As provided in the top answer to What books should I study to have a decent understanding of psychology?, I’ve compiled a reading list based on the books I acquired during my training as a therapist. The first section is a **general introduction** and they would answer your question on introductory material. I highly recommend reading these before going into the other 2 sections.

I have added the 2nd and 3rd sections for further reading. For a good understanding, I recommend you don't touch any of the books in the 3rd section unless you have a good grasp on the books in section 2.

I have often quoted from these books in my answers here.

## General Introduction (Best read in order)

Sanders, P. (2011). *First steps in counselling: A students' companion for introductory courses.* Pccs Books.

Frankland, A., & Sanders, P. (1995). *Next steps in counselling: a students' companion for certificate and counselling skills courses.* PCCS books.

Reeves, A. (2022). *An introduction to counselling and psychotherapy: From theory to practice. An Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy* Sage. Contents and Chapter 1 Preview (PDF)

De Board, R. (2008). *Counselling for toads: a psychological adventure.* Routledge.

## To be read after the general introductory for best understanding

Clarkson, P., & Cavicchia, S. (2013). *Gestalt counselling in action.* Sage.

Dryden, W., Jones, J., & Trower, P. (2015). *Cognitive behavioural counselling in action. Cognitive Behavioural Counselling in Action.* Sage

Jacobs, M. (2017). *Psychodynamic counselling in action.* Sage.

Mearns, D., Thorne, B., & McLeod, J. (2013). *Person-centred counselling in action*. Sage.

Rogers, C. (2012). *Client Centred Therapy (New Ed).* Hachette UK.

## Further reading when you have a good grasp of the other 2 sections

Berne, E. (1968). *Games people play: The psychology of human relationships.* Penguin

Erickson, J. M., & Erickson, J. M. (1997). The life cycle completed: Extended version with new chapters on the ninth stage of development.

Harris, T. A. (2012). *I'm OK, you're OK.* Random House.

Jacobs, M. (2012). *The Presenting Past: The Core Of Psychodynamic Counselling And Therapy: The core of psychodynamic counselling and therapy.* McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Sigelman, C. K., & Rider, E. A. (2021). *Life-span human development.* 10th ed. Cengage Learning.
> 2 votes

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Tags: reference-request
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# Question
Title: A website can directly get the location of every electrode of 10-20 system
There is a website about the eeg 10-20 system. When I input the circle of the head and the distance between the inion and nasion, I can directly get the location of every point from Cz or else. But I can't find it. I probably remeber the domain is start with `eeg.clinical...`, so anyone have used it, thanks a lot.

# Answer
> 1 votes
I am not sure if this is helpful, but you could use a toolbox like EEGLAB that has these files for you (see this tutorial)

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Tags: neuroscience, eeg
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# Question
Title: How can you set the axonal length in a recurrent neural network?
I am studying the model presented in "Simple framework for constructing functional spiking recurrent neural networks" but I am also interested in general answers or answers applicable to other models.

Let's say I have a brain A and a brain B with the same connectivity but in brain A axons are twice as long. Which parameter of the recurrent neural network should I change and how?

I come from a machine learning background so never thought of this question, but I imagine it should matter for neuroscience comparative studies with brains that vary significantly in size.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Longer axons would mean longer delays between the time a cell fires an action potential/reaches threshold and the time that synapses from that cell are activated: neurotransmitter released, postsynaptic voltage changes.

The model you link to doesn't bother to model these delays, so there's no way to make them longer within the framework of this model. It does have a time constant that smooths voltage changes, but the changes begin instantaneously. You could possibly introduce a delay such that you look at past values of "r", but you'd have to start with some baseline delay: you can't model something "twice as long" by multiplying zero by 2.

In a real brain, conduction delays are quite short within the brain itself, and "fixed" costs of synaptic transmission are comparatively large: vesicle fusion, neurotransmitter diffusion and binding to post-synaptic receptors, and voltage changes governed by post-synaptic membrane capacitance all influence the speed of transmission; the latter (membrane capacitance) is arguably the slowest, so the model you link to only bothers with that step. Conduction delays begin to be more appreciable when considering communication with the periphery: muscles, sensory neurons. Additionally, conduction velocity is proportional to diameter, so in a larger brain some differences in conduction velocity can be accounted for by making axons larger as they get longer. This variation can also be seen in a single brain, e.g.:

*Chomiak, T., Peters, S., & Hu, B. (2008). Functional architecture and spike timing properties of corticofugal projections from rat ventral temporal cortex. Journal of neurophysiology, 100(1), 327-335.*

> for those axonal projections on the ipsilateral side, the speeds of axonal conduction appear to be tuned to their length. As such, spike delivery becomes nearly isochronic along these pathways regardless of projection distance

This paper finds that axons from a certain class of neurons have a diameter that depends on their projection target: neurons with a longer projection have a larger axon, such that signals from those neurons have about the same delay to their targets regardless of distance.

I certainly don't mean to argue that it's unimportant to consider brain size and conduction velocities in the experiment/model you propose, but just wanted to give some reasoning as to why you're likely to find simplified models that do not bother with these concerns for brain networks.

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Tags: neuroscience
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# Question
Title: Is hand-writing analysis used for analysis of a person's behaviour or anlayzing a person's character?
Does the handwriting analysis of a person predict only his/her behavior or only his/her character or both?

# Answer
> 4 votes
The professional term for hand-writing analysis seems to be "Graphology" and there is no *clear* evidence that it could be used to predict a person's behaviour or character. For a starting point see the wikipedia page, then there are this article in the New York Times from 1993 and this more recent article from BBC from 2005 for more casual explanations of the phenomenon.

For more scientific references there is this paper from 1983 and this one from 1987 that both fail to show significant results. Also this book chapter might give a good overview but I can only tell from the abstract and you would have to find it at a library or purchase it somehow.

### References

* Rafaeli, A., & Klimoski, R. J. (1983). Predicting sales success through handwriting analysis: An evaluation of the effects of training and handwriting sample content. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68(2), 212.
* Beyerstein, B. L. (2007). Graphology—a total write-off. Tall Tales about the Mind & Brain: Separating Fact from Fiction, 233-70.
* Furnham, A., & Gunter, B. (1987). Graphology and personality: Another failure to validate graphological analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 8(3), 433-435.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Handwriting analysis can, arguably, provide information on personal qualities (Klimoski & Rafaeli, 1983). *I.e.*, handwriting analysis may tell you something about the character of a person. In turn, character affects behavior.

<sub>**Reference**
**-** Klimoski & Rafaeli, Journal of Occupational Psychology (1983), **56**(3): 191-202</sub>

# Answer
> 0 votes
In truth, the amount of features in a person’s handwriting that vary over such a period of time is disproportionately small and predictable to a trained analyst. You’ll learn to recognize and contextualize characteristics such transient irritation, anxiousness, or emotional reaction to words or concepts in the text.

In actuality, the shifting elements in handwriting only represent a minor proportion of the entire. The underlying characteristics of a human never change, and only the character of the individual changes. Interesting hypnosis experiments have backed up this assertion. When a hypnotized person is instructed to assume a different persona, the qualities of his handwriting alter almost instantly. If he is asked to be an emperor, he will write with all the pomp and majesty that he believes is characteristic of a ruler’s handwriting. If he is asked to write as a child, he will do so with the clumsy effort of an infant scribe.

Reference: https://graphology.scry3d.com/frequently-asked-questions-about-handwriting-analysis/

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Tags: behaviorism, psychoanalysis
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# Question
Title: Is there any evidence that accepting, affirming parenting is associated with less child depression?
Is there any evidence that children of parents who are accepting and affirming in general of their children have lower rates of depression?

I mean the opposite of personally critical, negating, condemning or negatively judging (which could be towards one child and not another); as well as cooperating with their children’s desires and wishes rather than rejecting, forcing, or controlling them.

# Answer
What you are referring to is *Positive Parenting* (National Childbirth Trust \[NCT\], n.d.) and according to Seay, et al. (2014), positive parenting can be a powerful approach.

Referring to Lea Waters (2017), who is involved in a lot of research on the subject, the NCT points out that:

> Often our natural default position, as a parent and a partner, is to nit-pick. It’s easy to focus on what your baby or toddler is doing wrong. But shifting your focus to their strengths is the blueprint of this parenting style. And the research shows it’s a more effective way to parent (Waters, 2017).

We’re under social pressures to ‘fix’ our kids’ behaviours based on what we think is missing or lacking. This may be the way we were parented ourselves, so it might have become our default setting. But by learning how to shift our focus to our child’s strengths, we can override this negativity bias.

## Lower rates of depression in Positive Parented Children.

The NCT points out, with references if you use the selector at the top to 'show references', that:

> The research is extensive and compelling. Favourable outcomes for the child range from social, to emotional, to behavioural, to language, cognition and health benefits (Hartwig et al, 2017).
>
> Studies show that using positive parenting strategies with babies and toddlers:
>
> * improves social-emotional development and reduces disruptive behaviours, e.g. attention problems, hyperactivity, aggression, separation distress and externalising problems
> * positively influences cognitive outcomes in later toddlerdom (at 18, 24 and 36 months) and gives them a better chance of higher educational achievement years later
> * improves their ability to cope with stressful situations and their physical and mental effectsleads to greater gains in imitation and play. (Malmberg et al 2016; Weisleder et al, 2016; Mendelsohn et al, 2018)

For practical help on positive parenting, the UK's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has a PDF guide, which shares practical advice and tips for positive parenting techniques that work well for children - from babies to teenagers (NSPCC, n.d.)

## References

Malmberg, L. E., Lewis, S., West, A., Murray, E., Sylva, K., & Stein, A. (2016). The influence of mothers' and fathers' sensitivity in the first year of life on children's cognitive outcomes at 18 and 36 months. *Child: care, health and development, 42*(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12294

Mendelsohn, A. L., Cates, C. B., Weisleder, A., Berkule Johnson, S., Seery, A. M., Canfield, C. F., ... & Dreyer, B. P. (2018). Reading aloud, play, and social-emotional development. *Pediatrics, 141*(5). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3393

NCT. (n.d.). *What is positive parenting and how is it done?* https://www.nct.org.uk/life-parent/parenting-styles-and-approaches/what-positive-parenting-and-how-it-done

NSPCC. (n.d.). *Positive Parenting Guide*. https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/1195/positive-parenting.pdf

Seay A, Freysteinson WM, McFarlane J. (2014). Positive parenting. *Nursing Forum. 49*(3):200-208. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12093

Waters L. (2017) *The strength switch: how the new science of strength-based parenting helps your child and your teen flourish*. Scribe publications, London.

Weisleder, A., Cates, C. B., Dreyer, B. P., Berkule Johnson, S., Huberman, H. S., Seery, A. M., ... & Mendelsohn, A. L. (2016). Promotion of positive parenting and prevention of socioemotional disparities. *Pediatrics, 137*(2). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-3239
> 1 votes

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Tags: parenting
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# Question
Title: Why are humans the only species to maintain relationships with other animals simply for pleasure?
In the wild, animals may share waterholes, and grazing areas. Some animals have symbiotic relationships one example being the hippopotamus and the oxpecker bird. The symbiotic relationships are based on needs; Hunger, shelter, safety.

Human beings, appear to be the only species that has relationships with other species for pleasure. Companion animals and horses for riding are two examples. Of course, there is also the use of animals to meet the species needs; eg dogs for safety.

In this question I would like to focus on the relationship between human beings and other species as a source of pleasure (or comfort).

**What is different within the human brain that allows humans to maintain relationships with other animals purely for pleasure, that is absent in other species?**

# Answer
> 8 votes
According to Hal Herzog 2010's article "*Are Humans the Only Animals That Keep Pets? Do monkeys keep pets?*" in "*Psychology Today*", humans are the only animals that keep pets. Other animals have also kept pets however it was not under natural settings. These other "pet" relationships were observed in zoos, controlled experiments. etc.

One the main reasons Herzog notes that humans are the only animals to keep pets is the idea of culture. Humans have evolved to form a culture with social rules and norms. They can gather social information from others by relying on certain cultural rules. So it is acceptable for humans to form pet relationships with other animals. Some cultures do not have a word for pet. However ultimately these cultures end up forming relationships with animals that are "pet-like." The reason for this is because of memes. That is, the idea of having a pet spreads across different cultures.

# Answer
> 0 votes
**SHORT ANSWER**

It is likely that

**LONG ANSWER**

Somehow, I feel that the question is based on shaky assumptions:

1. That the "pets" relation is hierarchical in nature (with one member of the relation, typically the human, dominating the other, for instance a dog or a cat or a fish).
2. That we know of all symbiotic relations in "natural contexts" (when we mostly know about those in human culture, and only poorly those which do not involve humans.
3. That "escaping solitude" is a "need" (and pleasure) typical of humans, when it is likely to be one for any individual of any social species (as much as hiding from the sky for preys of birds of preys), in the sense that it was positively selected by the evolutionary mechanisms.

Basically, I feel (no offense meant!) that the question is a case of asking "why is it that objects A with characteristics B,C,D,E,F,...,Y always have property Z?". Concretely, if you define

* A = pets" such as having characteristics such as
* B="Dominated species",
* C=not (any more) for direct consumption (e.g. chicken),
* D=not (any more) for help hunting (e.g. dogs),
* E=not (any more) for help producing food (e.g. cows, goats,etc.),
* F=not (any more) for help producing clothes (e.g. sheep, cows,etc.),
* G=not (any more) for help keeping food safe from "vermin" (e.g. cats),
* (...) you will have made your definition so specific that, of course, only the cases you have in mind (human's "pets") match, and the coincidence should not be a surprise.

The very same Hal Herzog cited in another answer mentions the cases of

1. an American Sign Language-trained gorilla adopting a cat,
2. a hippopotamus becoming friend with a tortoise,
3. an elephant and a dog, and
4. a group of a dozen or so bearded capuchin monkeys who were caring for a baby marmoset, another species of monkey.

Hal Herzog excludes the first 3 examples as "unnatural settings" (a flaky argument) and the last one as "the exception that proves the rules", an even flakier argument "whose meaning is contested" (especially with the modern meaning of the verb "to prove": it would be correct to say that "the exception **tests* the general rules", but then the general rule must be discarded if it cannot be modified to encompass even the exception).

Alternately, if one was to define A (to avoid the word "pet") as "interspecies symbiotic relations between two members of distinct social species", Hal Herzog himself is giving instances of A which do not involve humans directly, both in the human culture (e.g. a dog and a cat sleeping together, a parrot and a turtle playing together) and outside of it (e.g. birds of other species peacefully sharing living quarters with a social colony of monk parakeets, parrots and monkeys being adopted into a colony of parrots and monkeys of a distinct species).

As such, I would make the research hypothesis that *any member of a social species (not just humans), being isolated from its peers, will be searching for company, including from individuals from other species, "for pleasure"*. I would be curious to know the state of the art on such topic from an Ethological perspective!

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, emotion, animal-cognition
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# Question
Title: The meaning of inhibition compared to what it means in neuroscience
I searched for the word "inhibition" in Google dictionary and here is the result: "a feeling that makes one self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way." It doesn't make sense to me. Can someone explain this to me? To me, it seems exactly the opposite.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Neurotransmitters can broadly be categorised as excitatory or inhibitory (+ modulatory):

Excitatory neurotransmitters act to depolarise the synaptic membrane thus increasing the likelihood that an impulse will travel across the synapse.

Inhibitory neurotransmitters act to maintain membrane polarisation, decreasing the likelihood of an impulse being forwarded.

A post-synaptic inhibitory potential affects the post-synaptic neuron acting to decrease the likelihood of an impulse traveling down it.

So, *inhibit* or *inhibitory* in this sense would refer to decreasing or damping-down of activity at some specific place in the nervous system, whereas *excitatory* would increase that activity. (Or sometimes having a broader more general effect, depending on the specifics.)

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Tags: neuroscience
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# Question
Title: Are all synapses "gappy", and what exactly is in the gap?
First, although I was always taught that the axon and a dendrite were separated by a synaptic gap of about 20 to 40 nm, I recently saw a reference I've since lost that seemed to suggest we've found that not all axon-dendrite pairs have literal gaps between them; some touch. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to read it, I have not recovered the source, and a search hasn't yet helped. Is there research that suggests that some axons and dendrites actually touch?

Second, what exactly is in the gap? Liquid, gas, nothing/vacuum? Of course, neurotransmitters can cross the gap, but I'm asking about whether something's always in the gap and if so what.

# Answer
> 1 votes
See a previous Q&A:

How synapses are hold in place if they're not phisically attached?

Synapses are quite structured, and there are physical connections between pre- and post-synapse through adhesion molecules, but the membranes themselves do not quite touch. Cell membranes are a phospholipid bilayer; the outside is hydrophilic and has a bit of a charge, so typically membranes won't sit right against each other, they'll always have at least a 'shell' of water in between. If they were held more closely, they would fuse, like happens with vesicles.

The gap is filled with extracellular fluid: mostly water, with dissolved salts and molecules. Released neurotransmitters cross the synaptic cleft by diffusion.

There are some synapses referred to as "electrical" synapses rather than chemical synapses; these are pretty much the same physically, except there are protein pores between the membranes that allow diffusion between their respective intracellular spaces. Everywhere else there'll be a gap. I'm not sure what you were reading about synapses *without* a gap, but maybe this is what they meant - I wouldn't quite describe it that way, though.

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Tags: neuroscience, neurophysiology, neuro-transmitters
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# Question
Title: When are connections between neurons strengthened - when LTP occurs or on every 'message' sent?
I'm doing some research into how the brain works for a research project.

Often, websites describe that the connection between two neurons strengthens when one of the neurons sends a 'message' to the other, they don't have to both send 'messages' at the same time.

However, I recently watched the video here: https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/learning-and-memory/2021/what-memories-are-made-of-100121

An experiment is conducted in the video on a rodent brain, and the results show the the connection is not strengthened when Neuron A sends a 'message' to Neuron B, but only when both Neuron A and B fire at the same time, inducing LTP (Long Term potentiation).

I've tried to look into this, but most websites say the former theory, not explaining the results of the experiment.

So, when does a neural connection strengthen, when LTP occurs, or when just one of the neurons fires?

If they strengthen both of the times, what is the difference between the strengthening and why did the experiment in the video yield the results it did?

Thank you so much for your time!

# Answer
Long-term potentiation **is** a form of "synaptic strength" changing.

Specifically, the video you describe seems to be talking about spike-timing dependent plasticity (though I'm not going to bother watching the video; there are plenty of text sources for this information out there).

In classical LTP, synaptic strength increases due to post-synaptic calcium interactions. For these interactions to occur, it's necessary for there to first be a synaptic release of glutamate, which binds postsynaptic AMPA receptors and NMDA receptors (both types of glutamate receptor). AMPA receptors depolarize the cell and make it more likely to fire in the near future. NMDA receptors are a bit more special because they permeable to not only sodium but also *calcium*, but are typically blocked with a magnesium ion around resting voltages. If the postsynaptic cell subsequently fires an action potential, the depolarization dislodges the magnesium block and allows calcium to enter through NMDA receptors. This calcium signal triggers a further signaling cascade with an end result being more AMPA receptors in the membrane: that means a bigger response at that synapse next time neurotransmitter is released. You can think of this as a special "AND" operation requiring a temporal order.

> Often, websites describe that the connection between two neurons strengthens when one of the neurons sends a 'message' to the other, they don't have to both send 'messages' at the same time.

I think these websites are just avoiding getting into the details. If you read a "how-to" manual on how to drive an automobile, it might say you press on the gas pedal to speed up. It's not wrong to say that, even if it simplifies things a lot and doesn't explain what specifically the gas pedal does or that it only works if you have the vehicle in gear and gas in the tank and the engine is on, etc.
> 1 votes

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Tags: brain
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title: recording a psychological state

text:
# Question
Title: recording a psychological state
We can record a picture with a camera and record a voice with a recorder. Then, how could we record a psychological state? If we can record it and then re-experience it, it will be helpful in studying the mechanism behind it.

# Answer
> 2 votes
If what you mean by 'Psychological State' is the current configuration of all the elements of your brain, the answer is easy - we cant record it. It's a matter of complexity. Dr. Lichtman of Harvard put it this way:

> The complexity in the brain is by far in excess of the complexity of any other thing humans have confronted. And this is a very hard and painful pill to swallow for scientists, when you're trying to understand something that has so much complexity.
>
> And let me give you a sense of how complex it is.
>
> In a technique like functional magnetic resonance imaging, where the brain is divided into voxels-- little cubic points of data that's related to blood flow-- the grain of that image is about one cubic millimeter per voxel. And that still gives rise to a million voxels in a brain. So, there's a huge amount of data in fMRI images.
>
> If we take one of those cubic millimeter voxels and ask, how much resolution do we need to see all these synapses in that voxel? We need about 2,000 terabytes of data-- 2 petabytes per cubic millimeter.
>
> So, if we wanted to do a whole human brain, we would deal with like 2 million petabytes of data-- 2 million, million terabytes-- which is comparable to the digital content of the world.
>
> It's an extraordinarily large number and much more than will fit on my laptop.

I have some experience with brain simulations and have come to the conclusion that we are never going to be able to understand the state of the brain by examining the state of the individual neurons that make up that state - there are simply too many of them. Trying to understand why my simulator of only two neurons does what it does is beyond me.
https://www.seti.net/Neuron%20Lab/3.%20Neuron%20Simulator/Neuron%20Simulator.php

# Answer
> 0 votes
The relevant part of your question is that you specifically ask about a 'psychological state', not about the neural correlates of that state (which could, at least theoretically if not practically, be recorded). It is precisely this distiction that is necessary for the type of study you refer to. The answer to your question is non-trivial: it would actually solve Chalmers' Hard Problem.

The reason why we cannot record psychological states is that they are not physical phenomena that can interact with a detection/recording device. Curiously, this also applies to the information stored in a computer. You cannot actually detect a binary value associated with a magnetic state, much less a letter that is correlated with a physical 8-bit byte, much less a computer programme or digital image.

In computers we solve this problem using strict coding and decoding protocols, which allow reconstruction of the information from measurements of bit states. To do the same for psychological states on the basis of detectable neuronal states would necessitate a comparable decoding mechanism. Unfortunately, brains do not work on the basis of strict formal coding rules that can be used in this way.

Solutions to this fundamental problem are discussed in my article on "Achieving Transparency in Adaptive Digital Systems" https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/nexj/article/view/39030

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Tags: consciousness, philosophy-of-mind, theory-of-mind
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# Question
Title: Can psychosis and dissociation coexist in a single episody?
Internet is plentifull of information about the differences between dissociation and psychosis, but I don't find any article that say if they can coexist in a single episody.

> Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality. This might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear (hallucinations) and believing things that are not actually true (delusions).
>
> Source:nhs.uk

Dissociation is often explained as a response of the brain when you cannot *fight or fly* against a threat.

> Dissociation is a break in how your mind handles information. You may feel disconnected from your thoughts, feelings, memories, and surroundings. It can affect your sense of identity and your perception of time.
>
> Source: webmd.com

Are people suffering from a dissociation episody often psychotic aswell?

# Answer
First of all **Dissociation is not a form of psychosis.**

Dissociation is similar, but **different to psychosis**, however they can often be confused for each other.

> Someone going through a dissociative episode may be thought to be having a psychotic episode, and in some cases, dissociation may be the initial phase to having a psychotic episode.
>
> The difference between the two is that, while dissociation causes a disconnection from reality (i.e., loss of memory and sense of identity), psychosis causes some kind of additional experience (i.e. seeing and hearing things that don’t exist) (MedicineNet, 2022).

When you look at my answer to What is dissociation? that can also be confusing, as dissociation can involve seeing and hearing things which are not there (in a dream-like state). But, in psychotic episodes, you are not in a dream-like state.

> \[Psychosis\] occurs when there’s a disruption in your thoughts that makes you unable to tell the difference between what's real and what isn’t (MedicineNet, 2022).

With dissociation, you **know** you are disconnecting from yourself, and therefore you **know** that your dissociative state is not a real state.

So, to your question,

> Are people suffering from a dissociation episody often psychotic aswell?

The simple answer to your question is "No, not necessarily". The APA Dictionary points out that dissociation can be a psychological defence mechanism, so, you can be just as dissociative and be mentally healthy prior to the dissociation as you can be dissociating while having a psychotic mental health condition, or taking dissociative drugs.

## References

MedicineNet. (2022). *Is Dissociation a Form of Psychosis?* https://www.medicinenet.com/is\_dissociation\_a\_form\_of\_psychosis/article.htm
> 1 votes

# Answer
Despite the fact that they might not always coexist, there is evidence that dissociation is associated with psychotic symptoms. It is the pathology behind them that distinguishes psychosis from dissociation. A dissociation is a disconnection from reality, while a psychosis is an additional experience. There is a possibility that psychotic patients will experience dissociation. While dissociation can also cause psychotic-like symptoms in severe cases.
> -1 votes

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Tags: psychosis, dissociation
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# Question
Title: Is there a special name for rejection of extremes in the list of cognitive biases?
Is there a special name for the cognitive bias that causes a person choose a compromise solution even the extreme solutions are better or causes person prefer a middle value even the extreme values are more suitable?

# Answer
> 2 votes
This is called extremeness aversion:

> Extremeness aversion is the tendency of choice makers to avoid extreme options and choose an intermediate option.

This appears to be a well-replicated robust effect - see meta-analysis by Neumann, Böckenholt, & Sinha (2016).

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Tags: bias
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# Question
Title: Relativeness of terminology and conceptual knowledge in Bloom's taxonomy?
In Bloom's Taxonomy, knowledge is divided into four categories: 1) factual knowledge, 2) conceptual knowledge, 3) procedural knowledge, 4) meta-cognitive knowledge.

Terminology is a type of factual knowledge which, for example, includes knowledge of scientific terms; while conceptual knowledge is about the interrelationships among the basic elements within a larger structure that enable them to function together.

Some details of knowledge of terminology in A Taxonomy for Learning Teaching and Assessing by Lorin Anderson etc.:

> Knowledge of terminology includes knowledge of specific verbal and nonverbal labels and symbols (e.g., words, numerals, signs, pictures}. Each subject matter contains a large number of labels and symbols, both verbal and nonverbal, that have particular referents. They are the basic language of the discipline-the shorthand used by experts to express what they know. In any attempt by experts to communicate with others about phenomena within their discipline, they find it necessary to use the special labels and symbols they have devised. In many cases, it is impossible for experts to discuss problems in their discipline without making use of essential terms. Quite literally, they are unable to even think about many of the phenomena in the discipline unless they use these labels and symbols.

And the explanation of knowledge of classifications and categories:

> Subtype Ba includes the specific categories, classes, divisions, and arrangements that are used in different subject matters. As a subject matter develops, individuals who work on it find it advantageous to develop classifications and categories that they can use to structure and systematize the phenomena. This type of knowledge is somewhat more general and often more abstract than the knowledge of terminology and specific facts. Each subject matter has a set of categories that are used to discover new elements as well as to deal with them once they are discovered. Classifications and categories differ from terminology and facts in that they form the connecting links between and among specific elements.

If I am not wrong, a scientific term may also include such interrelationships since most terms can be further categorized into more specific terms. For instance, a third grade in primary school learns the terminology mean or average\[\], and for them the mean or average should be a terminology in factual knowledge. But for high school students there are many types of mean: arithmetic mean, weighted mean, geometric mean and harmonic mean, then for them mean is conceptual knowledge(classifications and categories).

I wonder if my thinking of the relativeness of the terminology knowledge is right? If not, how to interpret that kind of knowledge? Thanks in advance and any advice would be highly appreciated.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Indeed from your non-trivial description this sounds confusing and may not be necessarily mutually exclusive for such taxonomy (aren't most taxonomy like this as reflected in the usual multiple complex inheritance diagrams?). Specifically based on contemporary cognitive science knowledge, the above factual knowledge could be related to the famous long term explicit memory and above conceptual and procedural knowledge are related to long term implicit memory. Finally meta-cognitive knowledge may be related to higher order consciousness only possessed by some types of mammals and surprisingly also some birds which could pass the famous mirror test for self-awareness.

> Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts.\[1\] This type of memory is dependent upon three processes: acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval.\[2\]\[3\] Explicit memory can be divided into two categories: episodic memory, which stores specific personal experiences, and semantic memory, which stores factual information.\[4\] Explicit memory requires gradual learning, with multiple presentations of a stimulus and response.

> most common forms is procedural memory, which allows people to perform certain tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences; for example, remembering how to tie one's shoes or ride a bicycle without consciously thinking about those activities... Evidence for implicit memory arises in priming, a process whereby subjects are measured by how they have improved their performance on tasks for which they have been subconsciously prepared.\[3\]\[4\] Implicit memory also leads to the illusory truth effect, which suggests that subjects are more likely to rate as true those statements that they have already heard, regardless of their truthfulness.\[5\]

In summary, same "average" could be classified as terminology without procedural understanding for children, and also classified as conceptual/procedural for those know what's really going on here under the hood. Finally, there's some scientific evidence about the correlation between REM sleep and procedural knowledge and NREM sleep associated with mere factual terminology knowledge.

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Tags: educational-psychology
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# Question
Title: Equivalent term for muscle memory in the intellectual domain?
In the latest newsletter of The Batch by Andrew Ng, he wrote that:

> All of this leads me to think that we need an equivalent term for muscle memory in the intellectual domain. As knowledge work has come to play a larger economic role relative to physical labor, the ability to learn intellectual tasks has become much more important than it was when psychologists formed the idea of muscle memory around 150 years ago. This new term would help people understand that practice is as crucial to developing intellectual skills as muscular ones.
>
> How about intellect memory? It’s not an elegant phrase, but it acknowledges this under-appreciated reality of learning.

I thought that kind of memory is just what we usually mean by memory. If I am not wrong, what Ng said is deliberate practice and in the Deliberate Practice part of The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, and When to Use Them two phrases are used: outsized memories and prodigious memories.

> One source of evidence that expertise depends on practice and not innate ability comes from the fact that experts rarely show outsized performance on tasks unrelated to their expertise. For instance, chess grand masters can remember the placement of pieces on a game board extremely well, unless those pieces have been placed at random (Chase & Simon, 1973). They have outsized memories only for game boards that are likely to occur in a chess game, not a generally superior spatial memory. Abacus masters—-people who win abacus competitions --have prodigious memories for numbers (Hatano & Osawa, 1983). Hearing a new number every 2.5 seconds, they can compute the following in their heads and in real time without an actual abacus

The aforementioned book can be treated as a popular book rather than a primary source book, so it may not contain the terminology. I wonder if anyone has recalled that kind of memory and can tell me its name? In my own opinion, it would just be memory or more specifically long-term memory. Am I right?

# Answer
From above comments sounds like you're already familiar with some necessary background knowledge, this answer is to further address your concern of the possibility of further classification of procedural memory into motor and cognitive subtypes. Actually from WP source of procedural memory the answer is affirmative:

> It took time for the idea of multiple memory systems to become firmly established. In 1962, the severely impaired amnesic patient H. M. was reported to be capable of day-to-day improvement in a hand–eye coordination skill, despite having no memory for the practice sessions (Milner, 1962). Nevertheless, subsequent discussions of memory in general and amnesia in particular tended to set aside motor skill learning and to focus on the unitary nature of the rest of memory. Amnesia was considered to impair memory globally, with the recognition that an exception should be made for motor skills.\[16\]

Also it's worth mentioning memory could serve as both a static object imagery and a dynamic tool, not as conventionally thought only as some static images to recall:

> Memory is treated as an object in recall or recognition; it can be inspected and described to others. In this case, the focus is on the past. However, memory (from the past) can be used as a tool to perceive and interpret present events... when used as a tool, the use of a memory is unconscious because the focus is not on the past, but on the present that is being aided by the past memory. Memory can serve as a tool even when one is unable to recall or recognize the influence of the past memory. This distinction between the two functions of memory set the stage for understanding the role of unconscious (or implicit) memory.\[8\]

Thus in a sense the phenomenal present is not just an instant on a real time line but a kind of *implicitly remembered* occasion of experience as a *process*.

Finally inspired by the contemporary widely accepted embodied cognitivism thesis of cognitive sciences, sensorimotor systems are seen as fundamentally integrated with cognitive processing:

> Many features of cognition are embodied in that they are deeply dependent upon characteristics of the physical body of an agent, such that the agent's beyond-the-brain body plays a significant causal role, or a physically constitutive role, in that agent's cognitive processing. This thesis points out the core idea that an agent's body plays a significant role in shaping different features of cognition, such as perception, attention, memory, reasoning—among others. Likewise, these features of cognition depend on the kind of body an agent has.

> This conceptual reframing of cognition as an activity influenced by the body has had significant implications. For instance, the view of cognition inherited by most contemporary cognitive neuroscience is internalist in nature. An agent's behavior along with his capacity to maintain (accurate) representations of the surrounding environment were considered as the product of "powerful brains that can maintain the world models and devise plans".\[11\] From this perspective, cognizing was conceived as something that an isolated brain did. In contrast, accepting the role the body plays during cognitive processes allows us to account for a more encompassing view of cognition. This shift in perspective within neuroscience suggests that successful behavior in real-world scenarios demands the integration of several sensorimotor and cognitive (as well as affective) capacities of an agent. Thus, cognition emerges in the relationship between an agent and the affordances provided by the environment rather than in the brain alone... previously were thought to be highly abstract, now appear to be leaning towards an embodied approach for their explanation.\[12\] Wilson also describes at least five main (abstract) categories that combine both sensory and motor skills (or sensorimotor functions). The first three are working memory, episodic memory, and implicit memory; the fourth is mental imagery, and finally, the fifth concerns reasoning and problem—solving.

> One researcher goes even further, positing that the multiple opportunities provided by human hands shape people's concepts of the mind.\[24\] One example is that people often conceive cognitive processes in manual terms, such as 'grasping an idea'.

So even the so-called "muscle memory" mentioned by OP is a necessary contributing and potentially critical factor for any conceived "cognitive memory" while actually both are under the same hood of procedural memory utilized by our thought.
> 1 votes

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Tags: memory
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title: Medical treatment for depression

text:
# Question
Title: Medical treatment for depression
Should depression be treated with excitatory or inhibitory medications? Normally I have seen inhibitory drugs being prescribed for depression, hence my question.

# Answer
Indeed most medication types of Antidepressants are inhibitory such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and Norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitors, etc.

However, surprisingly some research shows deprivation of REM sleep may at least temporarily improve depression. Thus if you count deprivation of sleep as "excitatory" generally in your dictionary then this could be such a case, albeit it's not the scientific sense as excitatory synapse defined in terms of increased probability of an action potential occurring in a subsequent postsynaptic cell or excitatory neurotransmitter molecules.

> It has been suggested that acute REM sleep deprivation can improve certain types of depression—when depression appears to be related to an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters. Although sleep deprivation in general annoys most of the population, it has repeatedly been shown to alleviate depression, albeit temporarily.\[89\] More than half the individuals who experience this relief report it to be rendered ineffective after sleeping the following night. Thus, researchers have devised methods such as altering the sleep schedule for a span of days following a REM deprivation period\[90\] and combining sleep-schedule alterations with pharmacotherapy\[91\] to prolong this effect. Antidepressants (including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tricyclics, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors) and stimulants (such as amphetamine, methylphenidate and cocaine) interfere with REM sleep by stimulating the monoamine neurotransmitters which must be suppressed for REM sleep to occur. Administered at therapeutic doses, these drugs may stop REM sleep entirely for weeks or months.
> 1 votes

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Tags: depression, psychopharmacology
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# Question
Title: Are there any sources that estimate the number of *unique* direct connections between neurons?
There are plenty of sources on the number of synapses the average neuron in some region of the brain has. However, its become clear that there is *some* degree of redundancy in these connections, where a pair of neurons have multiple synapses between them. I'm aware that the multiple synapses aren't truly redundant, they serve a purpose. I just want to know if there are any estimates on how many other neurons a single neuron receives from on average.

# Answer
For biological neural network in the brain unlike an artificial one, neurons are not strictly layered and one particular neuron may be connected to a large amount of other neurons which is obviously hard to correctly measure even for one brain, not to mention for a representative sample. For some rough idea this 2019 arXiv submitted paper estimates each of the neurons has 10,000 connections with other neurons.

> On average, the human brain contains about 100 billion neurons and many more neuroglia which serve to support and protect the neurons. Each neuron may be connected to up to 10,000 other neurons, passing signals to each other via as many as 1,000 trillion synapses.

This 10,000 number is also confirmed by the academic webpage titled "*Introduction to Neurons and Neuronal Networks*" authored by John H. Byrne, Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School.

> it has been estimated that one neuron can receive contacts from up to 10,000 other cells. Consequently, the potential complexity of the networks is vast. Similarly, any one neuron can contact up to 10,000 postsynaptic cells.
> 1 votes

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Tags: neuroscience, neuroanatomy
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title: punishment vs. negative reinforcement

text:
# Question
Title: punishment vs. negative reinforcement
I'm having trouble understanding negative reinforcement because from different POVs, it just seems like punishment

My teacher gave the example of the seatbelt alarm in the car that sounds off when you don't put your seatbelt on. It's reinforcement (because we are *encouraging* the use of a seatbelt) and negative (because we are *removing* the dinging sound when the seatbelt is used).

Sure that makes sense, but it can also be thought of this way. It's positive (because we are *adding* a dinging sound that wasn't there before) and a punishment (because we are *discouraging* driving without a seatbelt).

How can I differentiate the two? It might be helpful to frame it in a child doing something we don't want. Taking away toys in response to bad behavior, in order to decrease bad behavior... vs. only allowing toys to be played with when behaving nicely, in order to increase good behavior. Which is which?

# Answer
Actually according to wikipedia source definition of reinforcement of behavioral psychology and operant conditioning, punishment is a subtype of the 4 types of reinforcement:

> reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher frequency of behavior (e.g., pulling a lever more frequently), longer duration (e.g., pulling a lever for longer periods of time), greater magnitude (e.g., pulling a lever with greater force), or shorter latency (e.g., pulling a lever more quickly following the antecedent stimulus)... There are four types of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, and punishment. Positive reinforcement is the application of a positive reinforcer. Negative reinforcement is the practice of removing something negative from the space of the subject as a way to encourage the antecedent behavior from that subject.

> Extinction involves a behavior that requires no contingent consequence. If something (good or bad) is not reinforced it should in theory disappear. Lastly, punishment is an imposition of aversive consequence upon undesired behavior. Punishment by removal is a common example or removing a benefit following poor performance... there is also negative reinforcement, which is characterized by taking away an undesirable stimulus. Changing someone's job might serve as a negative reinforcer to someone who has back problems, (e.g. changing from a labourers job to an office position).

Regarding the question in your last section, your seatbelt case should better be viewed to increase good behavior, since the default no action which is *normally* considered to be morally bad but not absolute, for example, in case you need to get into your car and run away to escape some immediate danger. Or your seatbelt suddenly gets broken during driving.

Thus it's better to view your case as the *negative reinforcement* type as your teacher claimed since you're reinforced to be rewarded by removing the universally perceived annoying but not absolutely un-bearable dinging sound as opposed to some serious punishment assumed in OP. And your case is not unlike above WP's example of changing from a labourers job to an office position with back problems.
> 1 votes

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Tags: behavior, conditioning, reinforcement-learning
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