# Question
Title: Can hypnotherapy help to change my tastes in food?
First a few disclaimers:

I am from a scientific background but a marine biology and computing one, so I apologise if I get any concepts wrong, but I will try my best. I have never been hypnotised, but I am given to understand that hypnotherapy has been researched, written up and peer reviewed, so there is clearly some efficacy to it, although I personally have no idea how much or what its limitations are, but I am curious.

I know hypnotherapy has been mooted for weight loss, and although that is my goal (I run and occasionally use a gym), what I am interested in is not so much whether hypnotherapy might help stop me liking lardy snacks, but if it can help me change my tastes in food. My issue is that I hate salad. Can't stand the stuff. I have no problem with most green vegetables and so on, although I wouldn't say I go out of my way for them, but for some reason I find lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and the like detestable. But I can think of no good reason why beyond that lettuce is either a bit tasteless or tastes earthy.

I like the idea of eating salad, just not the reality.

* **Can hypnotherapy help a person enjoy the taste of healthy food that they otherwise don't?**
* **If it wouldn't work, why not? Is it because that level of suggestion simply isn't possible or some other deeper physiological reason?**

# Answer
As a professional hypnotist, I would start by asking you to consider if your body perhaps needs one or more nutrients in those snacks, or maybe there is a component of salad that really doesn't work for your body? There's the possibility of aversion to salad due to a negative association at some point in your life, say as a child you were forced to eat it. And of course there's the positive association of lardy snacks that the salad has to compete with! Sugar and fat are powerful motivators.

I don't think any respectable hypnotist would set about 'making' you like or dislike anything without seriously considering the ramifications of such an approach, and I doubt that hypnotic suggestion would be enough to overcome the messages coming from your enteric nervous system in the case of it not being an emotionally-based negative association.
> -1 votes

# Answer
I have done a good bit of research and reading regarding hypnosis as well as having used it to resolve several issues and change certain behaviors. I think that this answer can basically be boiled down to two statements. One, hypnosis cannot "make" you do anything. Two, hypnosis can facilitate changing any behavior or belief that you DESIRE. I have found it especially helpful with things that I WANTED to do but had trouble sticking to. Hypnosis works at the subconscious level. Many things that it changes you won't even realize anything has happened until days or weeks later when it hits you "hey, I'm doing that different!" That is the power of hypnosis. It works in the background of your mind and outside of your conscious control. The biggest thing affecting the effectiveness is your "want to" for the change. I've also received some training in hypnosis. In a demonstration or stage hypnosis setting I could "make" you do nearly anything if you were in the right stage of trance. However, if I tried to make any lasting change in your behavior that you had not agreed to and did not want, your mind would reject it and it would not have any lasting effect.
> -2 votes

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Tags: perception, feeding, hypnosis
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# Question
Title: How to measure and quantify concentration or focus?
How can we measure and quantify concentration or focus? For example, if I were to say:

> "If you do Activity X while using Y, you will be more concentrated than if you were using Z"

How can I quantify that? And what tests should I do to actually prove that statement? Examples are appreciated.

**Background** I am trying to build some different technology products and I want them to help the user stay more focused than they would using a competitor product of the same kind. The only research I've done so far was to build some interfaces and ask the user how they feel.

# Answer
**Short answer**
Attention can be quantified with a sustained attention to response task.

**Background**
I think with focus or concentration you mean sustained **attention** to a certain task. A sustained attention to response task (SART) (Silverstein & Palumbo, 1998) could be helpful to you (here is a free PsychoPy script). SART seems to be a reliable measure for attention (Smilek *et al*., 2010).

Basically SART consists of a set of stimuli (*e.g.*, simple shapes) and the subject is asked to repeatedly give a response (*e.g.* a button press) when a certain event occurs (*e.g.* a shape changes color). Reductions in correct rates, increased lapse rates, and/or decreased reaction times all may signal reduced attention to the task.

Admittedly I am not too familiar with these tests, but I do have a lot of experience with people loosing attention during tedious psychophysical tasks :) I hope the links and references provided here may be of further help.

**References**
**-** Silverstein & Palumbo, Computers in Human Behavior (1998); **14**(3): 463-75
**-** Smilek *et al*., *Neuropsychologia* (2010); **48**(9): 2564-70
> 5 votes

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Tags: measurement, attention, psychophysics, experiment-design, concentration
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# Question
Title: Is our sense of smell heightened when we are asleep?
My question is whether our **sense of smell is stronger when we sleep**? From an evolutionary perspective this could have been beneficial in terms of runaway camp fires, marauding saber tooth tigers or the testosterone of night-raiding cave men.

Does this effect back off when we wake, as our eyesight comes into play? And, if so, how do we account for the claims that many people die in night time house fires before they wake up?

I'm aware that the brain is able to desensitise itself to certain smells and go about its olfactory business elsewhere. That second sniff of fresh-ground coffee beans is never as good as the first. I'd say that most people assume they are 'a bit slow' first thing in the morning until they 'wake up properly', but is this true?

# Answer
> 4 votes
**Short answer**
The sense of smell may still be operational during sleep, but it is not enhanced. Olfactory stimuli typically will not wake you up during sleep, however.

**Background**
Olfaction and sleep are an interesting lot. Most sensory stimuli presented during sleep typically cause awakening, especially when when they are intense and sudden (*e.g.* a loud noise). This is not the case with odors, and even holds for unpleasant ones (Carskadon & Herz, 2004).

In addition, while most sensory systems stop processing their input altogether, odors remain processed by the sleeping brain. This may, at least in part, be due to the direct olfactory projections from the periphery to the cortex, without a thalamic relay being used as with the other senses (Perl *et al*., 2017). However, they will typically not wake a person up.

The **neural adaptation** (reduction of sensitivity over time) of the olfactory system is related to repeated or sustained exposure to scents (Dalton, 2000), and it is not affected by sleep *per se* as far as I know. Hence, taken together these findings support the claim that **odor alarms will not work**.

Note, however, that fire comes with heat and irritant smoke that will work on the heat and pain receptors in the skin, respectively. These may wake you up, barred the dulled sensory systems pick the stimuli up. And even then it may already be too late to be of any help.

<sub>**References**
**-** Dalton, *Chem Senses* (2000); **25**(4): 487-92
**-** Carskadon & Herz, *Sleep* (2004); **27**(3): 402-5
**-** Perl *et al*, Springer Handbook of Odor: 111-2</sub>

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Tags: neuroscience, perception, sleep, sensation, olfaction
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# Question
Title: What is acquaintance and how can it help a person?
An acquaintance party is :

> ... a college party held at the begining of the semester where students have the opportunity to meet each other. (source)

Since this party is always held in different schools in most countries, it made me wonder if its purpose goes further than just having fun, or getting to know University.

**How does this party help a person personally/professionally?** What is the main goal of this celebration, aside from having fun?

# Answer
**Short answer**
Acquaintance at the start of a new study can help to build a network of friends. Friends can offer mental support in difficult times, they can stimulate you in your studies, you can discuss homework with them and you can just spend your free time with them to (re-)charge before the new semester. Friends are not only fun to have, they are a necessity for a social animal species like *Homo sapiens*. On the the other hand, friends can also lure you into skipping classes, not doing your homework and focus on the 'wrong' things in life such as doing drugs. It goes both ways.

**Background**
Social networks can impact our health, happiness, wealth, emotions, and even physical well-being. College students spend a lot of time with their friends. One estimate suggests that the average college student spends only 15 hours a week in class but 86 hours a week with his or her friends.

Freshmen no longer have their parents constantly guiding them or checking in. That’s one reason why supportive friends are an important part of one’s social life during this period. These friends actually turn into students’ families during college. During this period, friends are everything; they are often the closest bonds students will ever make and sometimes the entire support system (source: Weisman).

It has been shown that different people generate different kind of networks. McCabe showed, in a relatively small sample of students, that there are roughly three types (McCabe, 2016):

1. "Tight-knitters" have a single cluster of close friends.
2. "Compartmentalizers" have a bunch of unrelated clusters of friends (*e.g.* a group of friends at university, the other at a sports club).
3. "Samplers" have one-on-one friendships with individuals who didn't necessarily know one another.

Now, why is this important? Every tight-knitter reporting to have friends that provided academic motivation and support eventually graduated. Among the ones who said they lacked this support and their friends distracted them from schoolwork, only half managed to graduate within six years.

Compartmentalizers and samplers both risked to be 'torn' between social contacts groups and could experience social isolation (source: NPR).

<sub>**Reference**
**-** McGabe, Connecting in College. How friendship networks matter for academic and social success. University Chicago Press (2016)</sub>
> 3 votes

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Tags: social-networks, study-cognitive-sciences
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# Question
Title: Does the peripheral nervous system processes information like central neurons do?
Neural coding deals with the problem on how neurons or a network of neurons processes a stimulus and creates a response in form of electrical action potentials. Information then might be encoded in the rate of the action potentials or their timing.

My questions now are:

1. **Do nerves, e.g. in the arm of a human, merely "relay" any information, or do they also process incoming signals in any way?** As a result, the electrical signal would then differ when measured at the beginning and the end of a nerve.
2. **Can a nerve be stimulated** at one point with a certain electrical signal as input (with varying rate etc. to encode information) and **can the output be measured** at another point?

If I understood correctly, this is done at a electroneuronography (ENoG) only that the electrical stimulus is not varying in rate or other properties.

Any links to research that deals with similar things would be great.

# Answer
**Short answer**

* Peripheral nerves can be stimulated by, *e.g.*, electrical pulses and their responses can be recorded back by using recording electrodes.
* Peripheral nerves generally do not process the signal. However, they can, and likely will, behave in a nonlinear manner, meaning that their transfer characteristics may change over time, depending on the stimulus.

**Background**
I'll approach this question based on the cochlear implant (CI). In short, these devices are implanted into the inner ear in people with pronounced hearing loss (Fig. 1). CIs stimulate the auditory nerve directly with electrical pulses, thereby bypassing the degenerate hair cells and restoring functional hearing.

The auditory nerve responses elicited by CIs are routinely recorded to assess implant functionality. These recordings are called electrically evoked compound action potential (eCAP) responses (Fig. 2). Basically, one electrode is stimulated and the nerve response is measured by another electrode. All the action potentials of the individual auditory nerve fibers are basically recorded synchronously, resulting in a compound action potential (CAP). This will probably answer your second question, namely **yes, nerve responses can be elicited electrically and recorded back with the proper recording setup**.

To go back to your first question - nerve responses are nonlinear, as neural responses show **adaptation** to the stimulation. Basically, nerves get tired of firing after a while. To go back to the CI example; if high rates of electrical stimuli are applied to the inner ear, the auditory nerve shows a slow adaptive behavior, causing the nerve response amplitude to decline slowly over time, this is caused because more and more fibers become less responsive. Then there is a short-term effect caused by **refractoriness** of individual fibers. A few milliseconds after a fiber has fired, it is unresponsive to a following stimulus. This causes some fibers to skip the stimulus. During a high-rate pulse train, this results in e eCAP to alternatingly have a normal and low amplitude (Fig. 3). This answers your first question, in a nutshell, namely that nerves can alter the input signal for sure. The process of adaptatin is widespread in the periphery, for example all sensory systems show it to some degree. It is, however, not a real processing such as the processing happening in the peripheral retina for example where complex circuitry markedly alters retinal output to the optic nerve.

Fig. 1. Cochlear implant. source: Speech Buddy

Fig. 2. Princple of eCAP recording. source: A.D. Costlow

Fig. 3. eCAP amplitudes during high-rate (900 pulses/s) stimulation of a CI. figure excerpt adapted from: Hughes *et al*. (2014)

**Reference**
**-** Hughes *et al*., *Hear Res* (2014); **316**: 44-56
> 1 votes

# Answer
> Does the peripheral nervous system processes information like central neurons do?

No. Central neurons predominately process information through neural networks. A neural network is basically a group of neurons who have synapses on each other thereby providing excitatory and inhibitory inputs. The peripheral nervous system is generally thought of as being a relay between the periphery (e.g., limbs) and the brain. They do not generally form synapses with neurons outside the CNS and therefore cannot perform processing like neurons in the CNS.

> Do nerves, e.g. in the arm of a human, merely "relay" any information, or do they also process incoming signals in any way? As a result, the electrical signal would then differ when measured at the beginning and the end of a nerve.

At the individual neuron level the "signal" is generally thought of as being an action potential. Action potentials are typically described as all-or-none events and propagate along the nerve fiber. The exact morphology of the action potential can change as it propagates, but when it gets to the end, it will cause the release of neurotransmitter to signal the next neuron.

An alternative definition of "signal" are post synaptic potentials. These are the small changes in voltage that a nerve fiber undergoes do to the presence of neurotransmitters. The Hodgkin and Huxley model provides a mathematical description of how this process works.

> Can a nerve be stimulated at one point with a certain electrical signal as input (with varying rate etc. to encode information) and can the output be measured at another point?

No (well maybe). Stimulating a nerve at a particular point is difficult. Hodgkin and Huxley in their Nobel prize winning work injected current (maybe voltage) into the giant axon of the squid and measured the response. The technique of intracellular recordings involves patch clamping and is not easy (again a Nobel prize worthy discovery). Patch clamping a cell in two places is probably theoretically possible, but I pity the grad student who has to do it.

With extracellular recordings it is difficult to know "where" you are stimulating and recording. It is often hard to even know what neuron you are recording from.
> 0 votes

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Tags: neuroscience, measurement, neurophysiology, electrophysiology, experimental-neuroscience
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# Question
Title: What is the reason behind terrorist attacks?
From psychology point of view, what is the reason behind terrorist attacks?

* What is the motivation for the leaders of terrorists?
* What is the motivation for the person who performs terrorist attacks?

# Answer
> 3 votes
As others have mentioned, different individuals and groups can have broad (and conflicting) motivations for specific actions. I found this post on the Politics SE while looking up a similar question, though I don't know if this is exactly what you are asking. The post asks why ISIS performs terrorist attacks when it brings them more attention and threat. Ultimately, they just have different goals. Looking at it from one perspective, it seems "wrong". Looking at it from another, it completely makes sense.

This answer (to the above question) does a great job of explaining how ISIS stated goals relate. These goals are not focused on conquest or "winning" in the traditional sense, but much more on bringing division into the world. If this is the goal, terrorist attacks that bring fear, racism, and religious judgement from the West are *right* (again, towards this purpose).

Long story short: they have a different goal than many people. These attacks are actually quite rational, when working towards that goal. It is the *goal itself* that we find irrational.

As to why people believe in one goal vs. another: I don't think that this has a universal answer. Lots of complex things can go into this belief, and they can greatly vary by individual.

# Answer
> 3 votes
The question is superbly broad and largely off-topic here, as it crosses to the realms of Anthropology, Sociology and Religion Studies.Secondly, terrorist attacks may be executed by different groups of individuals, and each occurrence may be fueled by a different set of motives. Hence, I will confine my answer to a general answer.

Having said that, it needs mentioning that the psychology of terrorism is marked more by theory and opinion than by hard science (source: APA). By crunching the numbers it seems that religious extremism has apparently become the main driver of terrorism in recent years (source: The Guardian).

From the point of the individual, there are a number of factors that may drive people to let themselves be recruited into terrorist radical organizations (source: APA):

* Feelings of anger, alienation or disenfranchisement;
* Sense of powerlessness;
* Feelings of being victimized by the social injustice they are fighting;
* Feeling of the need to take action rather than just talking about the problem.
* Immoral attitudes to violence;
* Their friends or family are sympathetic to the cause.
* Beliefs that joining a movement offers social and psychological rewards such as adventure, camaraderie and a heightened sense of identity.

You ask about leaders. What is a leader? There are many leaders and layers stacked on top of each other. Divide and conquer. The same beliefs as stated above may also apply to these folks. Maybe you refer to the individual as the people that commit suicide during the atrocities. I think very personal motivations may push these people. For example believing the afterlife is eternal and that committing a certain atrocity is a good thing, granting them a place in heaven. Leaders will probably have more political motivations and will operate with a larger vision of the cause. There are many terrorist groups. The **IRA** for example, was an Irish republican paramilitary organization that sought to separate Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom. Bin Laden, from the notorious **Al-Qaeda**, attacked the Twin Towers and other symbols of American power to promote widespread fear throughout the country and weaken the US’ standing in the world community, ultimately supporting their political and religious goals in the Middle East and Muslim World (source: 9/11 Memorial Museum).

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, abnormal-psychology, experimental-psychology
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# Question
Title: Is an avoidance of incest/inbreeding learned or instinctive?
Is the natural avoidance of incest something that is learned or is the human brain programmed by instinct to have a negative response to incest? This of course would have an evolutionary advantage and would hence make perfect sense.

# Answer
> 5 votes
This is not my field, but I gave it a quick search. This article seems to speak directly to this question, summarizing and comparing multiple theories to each other. In light of these theories, the article also seems to propose a synthesized theory of the avoidance. Formal citation below. Hope this helps!

**APA Citation**

Paul, R. A. (2011). Incest Avoidance: Oedipal and Preoedipal, Natural and Cultural. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 58(6), 1087–1112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003065110395759

# Answer
> 3 votes
The answer is that we don't really know. It is understandably difficult to conduct experiments on humans in this field, so many theories remain speculative.

The two competing forces (nature and nurture), known as the inbreeding avoidance hypothesis, and the incest taboo, both have mixed support with respect to humans. However, as is typical of human behaviour, there is probably a mix of both at play.

**The Westermarck Effect**

The negative effect of inbreeding on genetic fitness is well supported in animal studies, though there is less confidence about humans. This suggests that a cognitive mechanism for inbreeding avoidance might be adaptive, but it remains to be determined how kin detection actually works.

The Westermarck Effect was proposed as early as 1891 as the instinctual mechanism in humans that might implement kin detection. The effect is typically assumed to involve a genetic predisposition to learn to identify kin through early childhood experience. Supportive studies demonstrate cases where genetically unrelated individuals who are raised together in their early childhood are less likely to find each other sexually attractive, less likely to find similar individuals attractive, and less likely to marry such individuals. There are also counterpart studies on genetic siblings who are not raised together, and hence do not experience this effect.

This effect is found in animals, and is often implemented through olfactory detection - animals tend to avoid mating with others whose smell resembles those they have been raised with - and recently, the sense of smell has been proposed to account for the Westermarck effect in humans as well. Conclusive evidence is elusive however, as classical conditioning would spread avoidance to other senses. Furthermore, much of the evidence for this effect in both humans and other animals has been called into question over the years.

**Alliance Theory**

While the apparent universality of the incest taboo suggests a genetic predisposition, the exact way in which it is implemented varies significantly across cultures (for example, how different cultures treat marriages between first-cousins). As such, a cultural origin has been surmised.

Exogamy was proposed in 1949 as the mechanism behind the anthropological Alliance Theory. This theory suggests that the incest taboo is socially adaptive, as it encourages marriages between families, increasing social stability. This was a common practice for maintaining peace among the ruling class of many monarchic societies, for example. Accordingly, when *intra*-family relations (endogamy) were more socially adaptive (because of isolation or protection from enemies), then the incest taboo was not present, as was the case in a few ancient societies such as Egypt, Inca, Hawaii, and China.

While a cultural origin may explain biologically counter-productive exceptions, it does not eliminate a biological impetus - a selective preference for societies that adopt the taboo over ones that don't.

# Answer
> 2 votes
Before I can answer this question, I would like to draw your attention to an iTunesU talk hosted by Professor Ralph Richard (Rick) Banks at Stanford Law about marriage restriction, which covers incestual relationships and the arguements for legal restriction in incestual marriage and relationships.

In this talk, Rick is not talking about incest between an adult and child as this is obviously wrong and covered by child sexual abuse laws. What he is referring to is incestual relationships between 2 consenting adults.

One argument he has is that society and the law generally prohibits relationships between people related by marriage - step relatives such as step-brother and step-sister or step-mother/father and step-son/daughter such as Nick Cameron and Danielle Heaney, and these cases have no bearing on genetics which others have put forward. And on that subject, Rick argues that the risk of genetic problems occurring does not legally stop anyone having a sexual relationship with someone with genetic abnormalities, so why should the law stop consensual incest between adults?

This question would come into the nature vs nurture debate (Are behaviours inherently biologically or environmentally determined?) And cases such as Nick and Danielle, above, highlight some of the reasons why this sort of question pops up on occasions.

There are papers and articles which argue that incest causes genetic abnormalities which can weaken the gene pool within populations, and there are arguments which counter-act those arguments because there is the phenomenon of Genetic Purging.

In fact, Rick Banks puts forward a valid argument which is that the main reason for restricting incest is that it can be socially destructive for individuals in the family context. However, is that because of social barriers to incest, or some other psychological reason? — I am digressing as that is another question.

I would say that the answer to your question on learnt or instinctive avoidance of incest is a matter of opinion at the moment. Some people say that the taboo comes from some sort of anti-incest mechanism within the biological framework of the person. However, from looking at things on balance through articles and papers I have read, including some of those linked in the genetic purging link above, **I, along with some anthropologists, say that incest taboos are learnt social conventions**. Look at how it was generally believed that homosexuality for example is down to genetic faults or mental illness.

# Answer
> 0 votes
It's selected against due to negative recessive traits/phenotypes/diseases being more pronounced and more prevalent in the gene pool of the species or population.

Individuals who do are less fit and don't fare as well on average and become less numerous in the population.

There is a social component too, as some comments say. To what degree is social but it is taboo in most species, certainly for mammals.

Example: We breed K9s to different phenotypes. We inbred to get the desired traits such as body size, color, temperament, etc. The further one diverges from the ancestral populations' phenotypes, the more health issues and generic disease are expressed. For instance, hip dysplasia. A wild individual would probably die and not get to pass any genes along if they were suffering from an ailment due to close inbreeding. In this case the selection is artificial, but the point is the same.

A good source to reference is Richard Dawkins' book *The greatest show on earth*

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Tags: learning, sexuality, evolution, behavior, anthropology
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# Question
Title: Scientifically credible texts on how to perform Hypnosis
What are some scientifically credible texts (preferably free and online) that I could read to learn more about Hypnosis.

While hypnosis is a real phenomenon, there seems to be a lot pseudoscience practitioners in the area as well.

Note: I'm looking more for a text book type work explaining how hypnosis works then studies providing evidence for it. It should of course be *supported* by studies, but its main purpose should be instruction.

# Answer
> 4 votes
For scientifically supported texts, I would recommend the textbooks produced by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (linked here) as a good place to start. None of these are free (legally), though.

They also produce a bibliography of articles and books (currently some 9 pages) that provide some additional handy references.

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Tags: reference-request, hypnosis
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# Question
Title: Is Hypnosis more effective than a placebo?
Hypnosis has been proven effective as way to treat various illnesses. So have placebos. My question is, is Hypnosis more effective than a placebo?

In particular has there any experiments comparing the effects of real hypnosis v.s. fake hypnosis?

# Answer
> 4 votes
Answering your first question...

This paper does a handy job of describing the situation. Specifically, it describes how "more effective" may not be the correct way of looking at the comparison between hypnosis and placebo. Specifically, these methods may function differently, depending on the activity of the individual's prefrontal cortex:

> "In conclusion, whilst there are potentially informative similarities between hypnotic suggestion and placebos, their differences, particularly with regard to the differential contributions of regions of the prefrontal cortex, are also potentially informative as to the nature of suggestion more generally." (Parris, 2016).

I'd copy the whole 5th and 6th paragraph of this article if I could: I recommend giving it a glance!

Long story short: recent research seems to suggest that patients may be more or less susceptible to these different treatments depending on the level of activity in the PFC.

**References**

Parris, B. A. (2016). The Prefrontal Cortex and Suggestion: Hypnosis vs. Placebo Effects. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 415. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00415

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Tags: hypnosis, placebo
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# Question
Title: Why do people overestimate future happiness when they imagine acquiring something like a house or winning the lottery?
When a person says he would be happy to win the lottery he is usually wrong? Why are people bad at judging their happiness in the future? A person who knows that he will get a fancy house in the future thinks he will be happy. But when he ends up living in it he is not as happy as the thought he would be.

# Answer
Like many people, I do this a lot, the whole thought process "If I won the lotto...". Following on from the term that AsheeshR linked in his comment, there has been several studies on the phenomenon of the *Hedonic Treadmill*.

One particular study is "Getting off the hedonic treadmill, one step at a time: The impact of regular religious practice and exercise on well-being" (Mochon et al. 2008), where they assert that a sudden large event, such as winning the lotto gives an initial burst of happiness, but we quickly adapt, from the article:

> Many studies have shown that few events in life have a lasting impact on subjective well-being because of people’s tendency to adapt quickly; worse, those events that do have a lasting impact tend to be negative.

Whereas, regular small-scale events, using the examples provided in the article: exercise, religious attendance, and I'll add seeing a good movie, meeting an old friend etc may do so

> by providing small but frequent boosts: if people engage in such behaviors with sufficient frequency, they may cumulatively experience enough boosts to attain higher well-being.

The authors of the article suggest that major events, such as winning the lotto do not promote a lasting sense of well being as do frequent smaller scale events.

An earlier study that found similar results was "Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative?" (Brickman et al. 1978).
> 3 votes

# Answer
Some people actually become less happy after they win the lottery. Here's one possible explanation of why. There are lots of people each of which they can help but they don't have enough money to help all of them. Since they have so much money, they can help some of them but because they're already helping some of them, they don't have enough money to help the others. They end up getting criticized by some of them people they aren't helping because they can help them but aren't.

Some people might not encounter that problem after they win the lottery and instead feel happy at first because they can help so many people and not worry that they aren't helping even more people that they could have helped, but they eventually stop being more happy because their brain adapts. If it's an autistic megasavant, they might continue being happy that they won the lottery because they'll keep remembering their initial impression of their new life style of finding it wierd and different and continue finding it wierd and different.
> 0 votes

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, well-being
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# Question
Title: What, other than humans, can possess an IQ?
Dolphins and some birds (crows and parrots for example) are considered to be 'smart'. This made me thinking - What animals, other than humans, can possess an IQ, perhaps even at a very low level?

# Answer
**Short answer**
IQ tests are designed to compare individuals within a given species. IQ tests for other animals than humans have been devised, however, and give insights in the distribution of smartness in other *animalia*.

**Background**
What is 'intelligence' within the confines of an IQ test?

David Wechsler – the creator of the most widely used psychometric IQ test, the **WAIS** – defined intelligence as:

> the global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environments.

Our general intelligence (G) can be understood in terms of 3 underlying dimensions, made up of 5 factors (source: IQ Mindware): (1) our knowledge base (crystallized intelligence) (2) our thinking skills (fluid intelligence, visual intelligence) (3) our cognitive efficiency or ‘brain power’ (processing speed, working memory/short-term memory)

IQ tests are generally administered behind the computer, or using pen and paper. This in itself is a rather challenging and cumbersome approach, even for the smartest dolphin around.

Indeed, IQ tests are made for humans and in fact, they are designed for educated people that have learned to read and write and know the difference between a triangle and a square. Many people around the world don't know what a trapezium looks like. They haven't had the education and likely, above all, ***They do not need to know it*** and yet be considered wise and smart ***in their communities***.

To put this differently, IQ tests are a Western construct designed for developed countries -

> IQ tests are widely used in our society. **Universities** use IQ tests \[...\] to select students, **companies** use IQ tests (job aptitude tests) to screen applicants, and high IQ societies such as Mensa use IQ test scores as membership criteria
> (source: IQ Mindware)

An IQ test is designed such that the average person in the population targeted by the test scores 100 (Fig. 1). The distribution around that 100-point average takes the shape of a standard bell-shape curve.

Fig. 1. Bell-shaped distribution of standard IQ tests. source: IQ Mindware

In humans, **factors like education and socioeconomic status can affect performance**. Hence, even within the human species the test may rather reflect educational status and hence can even mirror dad's well-paid job who happened to be able to pay for a respected University Fee.

Importantly, for your question, **IQ tests are designed to compare people**, *i.e.*, they are tests to compare the abilities of individuals within a species. And it goes further, they are tests with a certain reference population, namely well-educated white folks, to put it bluntly.

So to **extrapolate IQ tests to other species is difficult**, because intelligence tests need to be designed and administered such that **they measure the overall smartness**, and not just a specific set of skills, such as the keen memories of food-hoarding birds or the fine motor skills of chimpanzees that make tools for finding insects in trees. Further, differences in animal test scores can depend on **how motivated they are** to perform the tests. Because most experiments with animals are carried out using **positive reinforcement** (food rewards), animals with full stomachs won't be driven to perform well and hence may get low outcomes. To be blunt again - satisfied animals will look stupid. Thus, even studies that suggest variations in intelligence among animals, including humans, carry the caveat that they might be skewed by motivational issues (source: Science Magazine News, 2016).

Nonetheless, researchers have been trying to **develop tailored IQ tests** to other species. For example, in one study on New Zealand robins (Fig. 2), IQ was defined and tested on six different tests to measure various skills thought to be linked to the specific types of robin cognition, namely the ability to acquire, process, and act on information about the environment. In a test of motor skills, for example, the birds learned to flip plastic lids, one of which had a tasty meal worm at the bottom. In another test the ability to distinguish colors was quantified. In this test birds had to figure out whether the worm was hiding under a red or a blue lid. To show they could distinguish symbols, they had to discern whether the worm was under a lid marked with a cross or a square. And because these robins store food for the winter, the scientists also measured their spatial memories. They saw how well the birds could remember in which of eight wells the researchers had hidden a worm (source: Science Magazine News, 2016).

The robin experiment showed that between 34% and 45% of the differences in the robins’ overall performances could be explained by a similar general intelligence factor, **suggesting that the birds’ performance is not just due to their talent on individual tests, but to their overall level of intelligence**. Among humans, researchers have found that **general intelligence can account for about 40% of the individual differences** in IQ-type test scores. In other words, a **battery of different, well-designed tests appears to be measuring overall intelligence rather than simply how well a person does on each individual test in humans and robins alike**.

Fig. 2. New Zealand Northern Island robin. source: Wikimedia

Likewise, the great apes have been subject to specific, species-tailored IQ tests (Hermann & Call, 2012).

**Reference**
**-** Hermann & Call, *Phil Trans Soc B* (2012); **367**: 1603
> 4 votes

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Tags: animal-cognition, iq
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# Question
Title: Any research on brain's processes involved in evil actions?
I'm reading Zimbardo's *The lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn to evil* in which he describes the famous Stanford prison experiment that investigated the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison guards. The experiment's results favor situational attribution of behavior over dispositional attribution. It seemed that the situation, rather than their individual personalities, caused the participants' evil behavior.

Zimbardo concluded that a set of psychological processes - among them *deindividuation* and *obedience to authority* \- can induce good people to do evil.

Specifiying Zimbardo's definition of evil: - *"Evil consists in intentionally behaving in ways that harm, abuse, demean, dehumanize, or destroy innocent others - or using one's authority and systemic power to encourage or permit others to do so on your behalf"* \- my question is:

**Does a cerebral circuit of *evil induced by situational circumstances* exist ?**

# Answer
> 2 votes
I too have been studying Zimbardo's work and this area of research is still in its infancy at the moment, so, although those here who are more knowledgeable on neuroscience may be able to correct me if I am wrong, I believe from the lack of information I have seen that it is too early for any conclusive neurological basis to the formation of evil.

Whilst Dr. Philip Zimbardo's work, on the subject is in his book you mentioned — The Lucifer Effect — (Zimbardo, 2007) \[See also: lucifereffect.com\]there is also has an accompanying video at TED Talks (Zimbardo, 2008). In this video he highlights the basis of his book. There are also other similar works by other people.

The whole area of research on evil and heroism started, although not originally to study origins of evil, around 1950 with Solomon Asch and his Conformity experiment known as the Asch Experiment, which led to a further experiment by Stanley Milgram known as the Milgram Experiment.

Asch’s experiment was essentially benign in nature but Stanley Milgram’s experiment had a macabre nature to it. This made Milgram’s experiment particularly famous after he published his results as it made newspaper headlines and caused many people to sit up and really examine human nature, and the social requirement to conform to peers and authority figures.

> \[Stanley Milgram\] asked the question, "Could the Holocaust happen here, now?" People say, "No, that's Nazi Germany, Hitler, you know, that's 1939." He said, "Yeah, but suppose Hitler asked you, 'Would you electrocute a stranger?' 'No way, I'm a good person.'" He said, "Why don't we put you in a situation and give you a chance to see what you would do?" (Zimbardo, 2008)

The movie The Wave (2008) was based on teacher Ron Jones's "Third Wave" experiment, which took place at a Californian school in 1967 to explain how the German population could accept the actions of the Nazi regime during the Second World War. Because his students did not understand how something like national socialism could even happen, he founded a totalitarian, strictly-organized "movement" with harsh punishments that was led by him autocratically. The intricate sense of community led to a wave of enthusiasm not only from his own students, but also from students from other classes who joined the program later. Jones later admitted to having enjoyed having his students as followers. To eliminate the upcoming momentum, Jones aborted the project on the fifth day and showed the students the parallels towards the Nazi youth movements.

What is interesting with the Milgram Experiment is that **it doesn't seem that the root of evil is *always* related to the parts of the brain related to empathy**. You cannot just put those who "failed" the test into the category of those who lack empathy because when you watch the 1962 documentary about the experiment on YouTube (PSU, 1962) which showed the experiment in action, an example is at 22 minutes into the documentary, where the "teacher" was showing signs of distress and wanted to check that the "learner" was okay before continuing. When the "teacher" was told he **must** continue he reluctantly did so, but he grew more agitated.

Stanley Milgram’s experiment seemed to inspire Dr. Philip Zimbardo with his studies into evil and heroism. Philip Zimbardo conducted the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 and was an expert witness at Abu Grahib

> I became an expert witness for one of the guards, Sergeant Chip Frederick, and in that position, I had access to the dozen investigative reports. I had access to him. I could study him, have him come to my home, get to know him, do psychological analysis to see, was he a good apple or bad apple.
>
> ...
>
> Milgram's study is all about individual authority to control people. Most of the time, we are in institutions, so the Stanford Prison Study is a study of the power of institutions to influence individual behavior. Interestingly, Stanley Milgram and I were in the same high school class in James Monroe in the Bronx, 1954. (Zimbardo, 2008)

With his work, Dr. Philip Zimbardo came to the following psychological definition of evil:

> Evil is the exercise of power. And that's the key: it's about power. To intentionally harm people psychologically, to hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas, and to commit crimes against humanity.
>
> ...
>
> The power is in the system. The system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals, and the system is the legal, political, economic, cultural background. And this is where the power is of the bad \[apple\] barrel makers. (Zimbardo, 2008)

## References

PSU, 1962. *Obedience - Films in the Behavioral Sciences* \[Video\] University Park, PA:Pennsylvania State University
http://www.worldcat.org/title/obedience/oclc/498479796
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek4pWJ0\_XNo
Online Stream at: https://cas.byu.edu/cas

Zimbardo, P. G., 2007. *The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil* New York:The Random House Publishing Group

Zimbardo, P. G., 2008. *The Psychology of Evil*. \[Online\]
Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/philip\_zimbardo\_on\_the\_psychology\_of\_evil

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, cognitive-neuroscience, personality
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title: Is there time in dreams?

text:
# Question
Title: Is there time in dreams?
Thanks to his studies on schizophrenic thoughts, **Matte Blanco** (*The Unconscious as Infinite Sets. An essay in Bi-Logic*, 1975) introduced an important modification of Freud's notion of the unconscious. He established that unconscious system is ruled by the symmetrical logic.

This logic rises from two principles: the principle of generalization and the principle of symmetry.

According to the **Principle of symmetry** : In the unconscious, the inverse relationship of each relationship is treated as if it was equal to the relationship. *For example*: if Juan is the father of Francisco, Francisco is the father of Juan.

A consequence of this principle is the absence of time in the unconscious (Matte Blanco, 1975) because a logical connection of nearness between parts of a whole, cannot exist.

Additionally, Freud (1900) said that the process of a dream is strictly ruled by the unconscious and said that many dreams neglect the temporal sequence of their contents, while others *try to indicate the temporal sequence in a complete way*. Accordingly, Freud said that there's an alternation of *absence and presence* of temporal sequences in the unconsciouss (and so in dreams).

**Does this alternation of *absence and presence* of temporal sequences, involve different brain's processes?**

## Reference

Freud, S. (1900). *The Interpretation of Dreams* Third Edition Translated with Introduction by A.A. Brill, Ph.B., M.D. in 1913 New York:The Macmillan Company
**Original legally available to download** from https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/books/TheInterpretationofDreams\_10056678

# Answer
> 1 votes
The simple answer to this question is "no". Dream state accesses state of consciousness where past/present/future are melted, which is why dreamer might be re-living experiences from the past, premonitions about the future -all intermixed, as well as an abundance of other experiences.

But there is a more complex answer which might hold much more value when approaching the issue of dreams in general - and in their particularities.

The Freudian or even Jungian approach to dreams is a passive one. That vastly diminishes the potential they hold. It is correct that dreams let us peek into the subconscious, which to a great extent influence and even drive the "conscious" behaviors and states.

The superior way to approach that phenomenon is however to take an active role in the dream - what is called lucid dreaming. By this, you will get now only be able to freely explore the content of your subconscious, but to fix issues existing there - being able to solve in one night, what the psychoanalysis would in years.

Familiarize yourself with works of **Stephen LaBerge** \- he gives specific methods for achieving the capacity for lucid dreaming.

If you want to go even deeper (or higher) into understanding and accessing the subconscious, as well as supra-conscious, there is a handful of schools around the world, a bit challenging to recognize, teaching genuine techniques stemming from Kashmir Shaivism, which can enable you to truly see how deep the rabbit hole goes...

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Tags: consciousness, dreams, unconscious
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# Question
Title: Why is it easier to see black text on a white background?
I'm wondering why it's easier to see black text on a white background than it is to see white text on a black background. I say that it's harder based on life experience (Hate webpages with black backgrounds!) and not from any actual studies I know of that have been done. Nonetheless, I think most people will agree with me on this one.

My two general theories are:

1. For some reason it strains the eyes (not quite sure why that would be), and
2. We're just really used to it, so our brains have become wired specifically to process black text on white backgrounds

# Answer
The short answer is that it is not necessarily easier to read black on white. Contrast is more important in lightness and colour, it just so happens that black and white is the highest contrast. So its no accident that most books are in black and white. There is a plethora of research on perceptual processing which is easily found on google scholar if you which to investigate this further.

Colour and Reading In 1984 a study was conducted comparing 24 colour combinations of text and back ground, this was of course on an older monitor, but there wasn't any significant difference between individuals in there ability to detect text targets relative to colour different colour combinations. This included black and white. However research with colour contrast, has found that variations in contrast of colour rather than colour itself influence reading speeds, and errors in reading. Greater colour contrast between text and back ground is reported to enhance speed of reading and reducing errors. In addition improving speed of reading, high colour contrast has been found enhance retention of text based information when compared to lower colour contrasts.

fig 1. low colour contrast

fig 2. high colour contrast

In addition to colour, contrast in luminescence (lightness) between text and background also influences readability. According to Knoblach et al (2001) high contrasts in luminescence between background and text enhances reading speed to a greater degree than colour contrast, although colour contrast keeps reading speed high when luminescence is low. **In other words greater differences in the lightness and the colour of text and background is optimum for reading ability.** Industrial researchers have taken this further with a 2009 study by Hewlett Packard (HP) specifically stating that 30 units CIE lightness contrast is optimum for reading rates and reduced error, **this is not the highest contrast, although still high**. However high colour contract and luminescence contrast are not additive, as they are coded in the same way in the visual system. Essentially so as long one of the contrasts is high reading speed and errors should low, meaning you don't need to use back on white.

What I haven't discussed here the two systems which process light: the magnocellular and parvocellular systems. **So yes we are hardwired to process colour differently from grayscale.**

fig 3. Diagram of Visual system

note. Mi = Magnocelluar (grayscale, low resolution, movement) Pi = Parvocelluar (colour and high resolution)

The magnocellular visual pathway which is dominate for processing text, and uses gray scale (black to white). However dyslexics, like myself, appear to have a preference and adaption toward utilising the parvocellular visual pathway (colour processing). This is likely due to differences in visual processing using the magnocellular system between controls and dyslexics, which suggests that dyslexics do not process greyscale as well as non-dyslexics. However this isn't to say that you need to be dyslexic to prefer processing with the colour system than grayscale. **THIS SECTION IS SPECULATION BASED ON NEURAL MECHANICS** There is also the possibility that prolonged activation of the magnocelluar system, by reading, may fatigue the neurons or/and photoreceptors, consequently reducing ease of reading. Hence why e-readers tend to use grey backgrounds.

Summary

There is more stuff to add in about positive and negative contrasts, for instance there is little difference in reading ability for black on white in comparison to vice versa. Overall, however, there is little difference in reading performance so long as colour and luminescence contrasts are high, meaning that black on white (highest contrast in both) is not necessarily better. Some individuals have a preference for using colour over grey scale, which while activating different visual pathways is still coded similarly for contrast in the brain. The preference against black on white may be due to the fatiguing nature of over activation of neurons in the visual pathways, or other factors such as dyslexia.
> 7 votes

# Answer
As Waldemar said, it is has a natural reason. During long evolution the eyes are adopted to acquire information through shadows around the objects, but it works also in reverted mode (light object on a dark background). However it is understood that the eye cannot work in two modes at the same time (normal and reverted), so black text on light background is just the more natural way, since we are "day" animals and most of the time we need dark objects/contours and light backgrond to acqure information effectively.

Interestingly there are anecdotes told, that a dark theme reduces the eye strain. This is a typical fallacy: a user sets a dark theme and sees much less light - at a first glance it reduces the strain, but if you need to *read the text* and not only stare at the screen, it turns out that it is just very unnatural way. No matter how does one play with colors, black text on light background will always win. And in a low lighted room, one just need to tune the background color, but it never should go in the reverted mode, if you really care about your eyes.

Also I have read some experimental reports that people with certain impairments are known to find it easier to read with reverted contrast. I personally could believe in this, but again, I am *very very skeptical* about that.

I just think that in most cases those experiments just lack the appropriate setup and proper question formulation. I doubt that using dark theme can be any good solution for patients with such impairments. I suppose there can be some very rare case, if a patient has some kind of "reverted" vision, which means he can *see* better in reverted contrast, which in turn IMHO is very uncommon, at least I have never ever heard about it. In such a case I would say, it is a very severe impairment, and can only evoke pity.

In other words I suppose that the percent of people, who *really* can read better with reverted contrast is very small, I would speculate the percentage must be a number with many zeroes after the dot.
So if someone claims that light text on dark ground is better readable, almost sure he is talking rubbish and is damaging his own eyes without even understanding it.

---

**FOLLOWUP**

Regarding the question, if B on W is really better than W on B, one can find enough clarifications, similar to the given above. One article with a self-explaining title: "Positive display polarity is advantageous for both younger and older adults"

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2013.790485

Conclusion of the study: "... The presentation in positive polarity is recommended for all ages. ..." This is just something that one need to accept and stop searching for something that is not there.

---

I'll just put here a list of related **misbeliefs**:

* B on W is better because historically people used black ink on a light medium and got used to it.

While the latter is true, it is still not the reason, and the reason lies much deeper in our nature.

* Dark background causes less eye strain.

Ok, but where is the information we read then? One reads through patterns (words) and not some abstract blobs, one needs sharp details for effective decoding.

* In a dark environment use a dark theme.

Just forget about the dark environment, buy a lamp and set up a comfort lighting.

---

I was experimenting a lot and reading on the subject of optimal text/ground color, but I've never doubted that inverted contrast is a bad idea for text, regardless of the media and lighting.

For me much more interesting is, which ground color is actually optimal on a monitor? I mean optimal for reading text in normal conditions - in a room with normal lighting (not too dark, but no bright sun).

After comparing my experience with opinions found in the web and from some of my coworkers, which I use sometimes as experimental persons :) it turns out that this optimum is indeed quite narrow.

So this is my personal choice for the background color, and it is similar to other's personal preferences:

Note the value of the color, **#E6E8DC** and especially the Hue value: 73 degrees. (This color picker is in Photoshop, other programs can use other HSB ranges and units.)

So my statement is, if you start with this color, you'll be not far from the optimum, which of couse can vary in some range.

How could it be theoretically supported? I don't know actually, but here is an interesting, let's say, coincidence: Let's consider the book "Sensation and Perception" by E. Bruce Goldstein, Page 56 (https://books.google.de/books/about/Sensation\_and\_Perception.html?id=2tW91BWeNq4C&redir\_esc=y)

Here one sees the visual stimuli peak depending on light wavelength. Interestingly this peak lies exactly on the same Hue range, which I found most comfortable for reading (compare with previous image). And the farther from this Hue value, the worse was my reading experince.

Does this explain something on a low-level? Well it should provide more contrast in terms of stimuli. But why this particular Hue value, I don't know, but it is still very interesting. Probably it has also something to do with evolution: mixing the color of sand, green vegetation, brown leaves could give something similar to this color Hue. Anyway, this color optimum is something that I can setup for me easily on a computer.

---

**Now going back to the original question**:

* **Why** dark on light is easier? Namely, how does it come so?

This is an interesting question, and I think in general it can be explained as the natural evolution. Just think of millions of years of evolution and these things:

* A crab on the sand
* A bug on a leaf
* A structure of a tree or cracks on a stone

To make a parallel with reading it is better to think of the last example - a crack on a stone. This is statical information about an object, its form, exactly what we need to decode a text piece.

There are also counter examples - e.g. light hay on the dark ground, but such things simply are less common in our world. So here lies the answer -

> we treat the objects by dark contours and shadows simply because these represent **dominant** forms, or patterns in the nature. To be more exact, those patterns which are important for our life and activity.

If a creature evolves in other environment, like deep sea or a cave, then it can come to other principles of course.

A good example is this test from the same book "Sensation and Perception", page 109. This test is used for slightly other purposes, but it shows the general principle:

Answering the question, one can notice that one tends to identify the dark areas as objects, not the light ones, despite they are formed by the same curves.
> 2 votes

# Answer
I know this thread is old. I thought I'd mention another thing, which is that white on black exposes visual imperfections much more than black on white. No matter how good you think your vision is, it has a point spread function which is imperfect. That is, a very bright white point of light will not actually look like a perfect dot. It will be smeared, or doubled, or a star/asterisk, or some combination of all of these. If your vision is great, the dot may have to be brighter to expose this, but it's always there. White on black makes it very apparent, where with black and white, the black text just gets a little bit lighter and it's not really annoying. The effect is exacerbated by the fact that with black backgrounds, your pupil will dilate more, making the distortion worse (even people with bad eyes can often see well in the bright of day when their pupil is tiny).
> -1 votes

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Tags: vision, reading
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# Question
Title: Is it possible to be clinically obsessed with school?
I was wondering if it is possible for someone to have a clinical obsession with higher education. For example, the person who has this disorder constantly talks to others about things such as college to the point where something seems very wrong. Does a disorder like this exist? Or can it be a form of another disorder? I'm asking because I'm writing a research paper on various obsessions and would like to gain some insight on the matter.

# Answer
## Short answer

With the limited amount of information given, it is hard to say. However, if the obsession causes marked distress in the person who displays obsessive behaviour, **or** it substantially interferes with the person's normal routine, the obsession **could, but not necessarily,** be diagnosed as a disorder under the category of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

## Long answer

There are a fair few obsessive/compulsive habits which can be clinically diagnosed as being a disorder. For any obsession or compulsion to be considered obsessive or compulsive in the realms of psychological disorders, the habits and their presenting symptoms need to follow a set criteria laid down in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — 5th Edition)

DSM-5 has a whole section on *Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders* and these include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), hoarding disorder, trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder), and excoriation (skin-picking) disorder.

To be diagnosed with a Obsessive-Compulsive or related Disorder, the person:

> * Must exhibit obsessions, compulsions, or both.
> * The obsessions and/or compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming (take more than 1 hour per day), **or** interfere substantially with the person's normal routine, occupational or academic functioning, or usual social activities or relationships.
> * The obsessions and/or compulsions are not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or other medical condition.
> * The disorder is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder, such as obsession with food in the context of an eating disorder.
>
> Obsessions are:
>
> * Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted and in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress.
> * There is some effort by the affected person to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralise them with some other thought or action (i.e., by performing a compulsion).
>
> Compulsions are:
>
> * Repetitive activities (e.g., hand washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly.
> * These behaviours or mental acts are performed in order to prevent or reduce distress, or prevent some dreaded event or situation. However, they are either clearly excessive or not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralise or prevent. (BMJ, 2017; APA, 2013) \[Emphasis mine\]

When making a formal diagnosis, the person making the dignosis would have to specify certain aspects in the diagnostic report based on *specifier criteria* laid out in the DSM.

Published by the World Health Organization, the ICD-10 offers another internationally recognised definition of OCD. It classifies OCD in its own chapter, F42, distinguished from the other anxiety disorders.

> The essential feature is recurrent obsessional thoughts or compulsive acts. Obsessional thoughts are ideas, images, or impulses that enter the patient's mind again and again in a stereotyped form. They are almost invariably distressing and the patient often tries, unsuccessfully, to resist them. They are, however, recognized as his or her own thoughts, even though they are involuntary and often repugnant. Compulsive acts or rituals are stereotyped behaviours that are repeated again and again. They are not inherently enjoyable, nor do they result in the completion of inherently useful tasks. Their function is to prevent some objectively unlikely event, often involving harm to or caused by the patient, which he or she fears might otherwise occur. Usually, this behaviour is recognized by the patient as pointless or ineffectual and repeated attempts are made to resist. Anxiety is almost invariably present. If compulsive acts are resisted the anxiety gets worse.
>
> **Incl.:** anankastic neurosis
> obsessive-compulsive neurosis
>
> **Excl.:** obsessive-compulsive personality (disorder)

Although it is not a diagnostic tool, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) (Goodman, et al., 1989; Rosario-Campos, et al., 2006) is the most widely used measure of OCD symptoms. It is a severity assessment tool which can be used as a self-report instrument or a semi-structured interview, and has been demonstrated to be valid in OCD. The Y-BOCS exists in both an adult and a child version.

## References

APA, 2013. *Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition)*. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.

BMJ, 2017. *British Medical Journal: Best Practices - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* \[Online\]
Available at: http://bestpractice.bmj.com/best-practice/monograph/362/diagnosis/criteria.html

Goodman, et al., 1989. The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. I. Development, use, and reliability. *Archives of General Psychiatry*, 46(11): pp. 1006-11
PMID: 2684084 DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.1989.01810110048007

Rosario-Campos, et al., 2006. The Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS): an instrument for assessing obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. *Molecular Psychiatry*, 11(5): pp. 495-504.
PMID: 16432526 DOI: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001798
> 3 votes

# Answer
To my knowledge there are no such diagnosable disorders. Remember, disorders are only disorders when they significantly and negatively impact social and/or occupational functioning. So if a person only talks about special interests, this might impact social functioning but how significant is it? Does the participant have friends which support his interests? Does it matter to him? Does it negatively affect self-esteem, worth? Does it affect his occupational functioning? Probably not significant enough to be a full blown disorder.

I think something which might be of interest to you is Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many individuals who are high-functioning may become obsessed about a specific topic of interest. They might investigate the ins and outs of the given interest.

You might be able to relate what you mentioned to media addiction but that is not a DSM-V disorder. There is nevertheless research about it, especially along the internet media addiction lines.

Hope this helps give you some direction.
> 1 votes

# Answer
In specific cases of learning disabilities (for example dyslexia), literature has highlighted relationships with emotionally distressed issues. Among these, ***the school phobia*** *is of particular interest* (Chitiyo and Wheeler, 2006):

```
It's a fear and repulsion to the school that provokes negative emotional relationships
Involve 2% of the school population and especially in transition periods or 6 to 11 years
(Gordon e Young, 1976).

```

It is different from anxiety because it has more "diffused" and "irrational" components, and if untreated it can lead to serious forms of isolation and depression (Gordon and Young, 1976)

I wish I've been helpful, for further informations i advise these **references:**

1 - School Phobia: Understanding a Complex Behavioural Response by Chitiyo and Wheeler

2 - School Phobia: A Discussion of Aetiology, Treatment and Evaluation by Gordon and Young
> 1 votes

# Answer
In reference to your question,

A diagnosis Is not something that should be generally thrown out if someone has a mild obsession for school. If you were to go into the DSM-V and look for an actual diagnosis because the obsession seems unreasonable and interacts with daily functioning, three diagnosis would come to mind.

A spectrum disorder, such as Autism or Asperger's could be diagnosed if the obsession reaches a certain level that clearly interacts with daily functioning.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is another disorder that could be used if no other symptoms of the spectrum disorder are present.

A Mild Anxiety Disorder could be diagnosed.

Hope This Helps, David Lopez Blass
> 0 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, abnormal-psychology
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# Question
Title: What explains the characteristics of the receptive fields of simple cells in V1?
Here is a YouTube video of a Hubel & Wiesel experiment from 1965 in the visual cortex. The video shows the experimenters outlining the receptive field of a simple cell in the first part of the video using symbols. Crosses are used for excitatory responses, and triangles for inhibitory responses.

As shown in the video, neuron firing rate increased when the edge of a bar of light touched the crosses present on the top left. It is not just the orientation and location of light bar, but it seems that the light bar's edge is defining the firing rate, and thus determines the receptive field. So, the oriented receptive field of the cell seems to be defined w.r.t to the stimulus edges, rather than the bright and dark regions stimulating the on-center and off-surround parts of the receptive field. It seems that the simple cell was getting triggered when the edge of the light bar touched the three lines made by cross marks and triangles in that particular orientation. So, the cell under consideration was responding to edges at three separate locations.

Is my understanding correct ? Please help me in understanding how oriented receptive fields made up with center-surround concept explain the excitation at the edge observed. Perhaps it can be seen as the derivative of a box-like receptive field, or an oriented receptive field.

# Answer
The **retinal ganglion cells** (RGCs) and the neurons in the upstream **lateral geniculate nucleus** (LGN) both have relatively simple receptive fields that are organized in in a center-surround fashion (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Center-surround receptive field in a retinal ganglion cell. source: Pinterest

In the **primary visual cortex**, the **simple cells** receive inputs from multiple LGN neurons (Fig. 2). By combining these inputs and aligning them with multiple ON-centers and OFF-surrounds in series (or *vice versa*) orientation-selectivity is accomplished in V1. The video you linked corresponds to Fig. 2C:

* Multiple ON-centers are linearly aligned and
* The ON-centers are sandwiched between linear arrays of OFF-surrounds.

This means that

* The simple cell will respond maximally when the ON-centers are illuminated and the OFF-surrounds are not (first minute video clip);
* The cell will not respond when the OFF surrounds are illuminated (1:20 point in clip), regardless whether the ON-centers are illuminated or not; the stimulation of the entire ON-center and OFF-center area results in zero activity (2:30 in clip).
* A stimulus oriented obliquely to the RF also results in zero-activity, because the ON and OFF parts are both stimulated (1:50).

Fig. 2. Diagrams of simple cell receptive fields in primary visual cortex. source: Stanford
> 3 votes

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Tags: neuroscience, vision, neurophysiology, sensation
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# Question
Title: Name of the psychological phenomenon of doing something just because you've already started doing it?
I feel like people really often do things just because they've already started doing it.

One example could be the Electronic Evidence of Sales just established in Czechia. It's a system monitoring all the sales in the country by receiving electronic bills. Now, in order to launch it, every shop in the country had to buy a special cash register so we already invested a lot in it but some say it's ineffective so we should cancel it. And, of course, everyone says that would be dumb once we're using it but they don't realise that our past decisions are irrelevant for what we choose now, that is, a system with less effectivity. Note this story is just an example of a bad argument and might not be true.

The closest phenomenon I could find is the naturalistic fallacy and appeal to tradition fallacy. Among friends, I call it "the finishing syndrome", isn't there a more widely used term?

# Answer
> 3 votes
There are many words, it depends on the case, one is inertia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive\_inertia

This term is also used when a phenomenon simply develops even if it is somewhat useless.

In bets or game theory cognitive biases.

# Answer
> 5 votes
Although Cognitive Inertia (as mentioned by hexadecimal) is a nice, broad way to point to the phenomenon, people have also studied it from other points of view. Two of them are from economic and cognitive angles.

From an economic level, what you are referring to is called the **Sunk Cost Fallacy**. Here is an example from Wikipedia that explains it from a business perspective:

> In business, an example of sunk costs may be investment into a factory or research that now has a lower value or no value whatsoever. For example, \\$20 million has been spent on building a power plant; the value at present is zero because it is incomplete (and no sale or recovery is feasible). The plant can be completed for an additional \\$10 million, or abandoned and a different but equally valuable facility built for \\$5 million. It should be obvious that abandonment and construction of the alternative facility is the more rational decision, even though it represents a total loss of the original expenditure—the original sum invested is a sunk cost. If decision-makers are irrational or have the wrong incentives, the completion of the project may be chosen. For example, politicians or managers may have more incentive **to avoid the appearance of a total** **loss.**

---

On a more personal level, this can be generally explained as the Zeigarnik effect, which states that *"people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks"*.

Although there are some issues with the reliability of the effect, it is generally extrapolated to say that the phenomenon *"**compels humans to finish a task that they've already started**, and that when we don't finish a task we experience discomfort and intrusive thoughts about it."* (from an AsapSCIENCE video on "The science of Productivity")

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Tags: bias, psychology, political-psychology
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# Question
Title: Psychological effects of being recorded as genderless at birth
I was reading this **article** about a Canadian parent fighting for the right to not give their baby a gender after arguing that a simple biological examination cannot uncover the child’s true identity.

This man wants his child to be able to choose its own gender when it is old enough, and has launched a judicial review against the policy.

```
"I want my kid to have all of the space to be the most whole and complete
  person that they can be.”

```

**Which psychological effects could be if a child was not registered as a male or female and consequently was not treated as such?**

# Answer
This is an interesting question and with the baby and his/her gender status, CNN reported that the baby

> was born in British Columbia, "outside the medical system," and did not undergo a genital inspection after birth, campaign group Gender Free I.D. Coalition said in a statement.

## Short Answer

There seems to be **no clinical consensus** on any psychological effects of not being treated as either male or female, and as the case of this baby seems to be unique and the world's first according to many reports, in the sense of the fact that the baby has not been given an official gender status, there will be no information on any potential future psychological effects to this baby.

## Long Answer

Before I answer the question, I will start with a commentary on the gender definitions often used for those who are "genderless" at birth.

### Gender Definitions

There are many different names given to gender identities which could be used to genderise the baby you mentioned (Searyl Atli). They include but are not limited to:

Agender,
Androgynous,
Bigender,
Genderfluid
Genderqueer
Hermaphrodite (not generally used in modern times),
Intersex
Non-binary

People born "genderless" were previously referred to as hermaphrodites, "congenital eunuchs", or even congenitally "frigid". Such terms have fallen out of favour; in particular, the term "hermaphrodite" is considered to be misleading, stigmatising, and scientifically specious.

There are plenty of well known people who were born without a specific gender (Non-Binary and Intersex) including a human rights activist. Ruth Baldacchino has a "non-binary" gender identity, and describes the Maltese Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act as providing

> freedom to an individual to develop, establish and express their gender, rather than having the State or the medical professionals deciding that. In other words, ... to be allowed to determine what identity fits ... best and how ... to embody that identity.

Human rights institutions are placing increasing scrutiny on medical practices and issues of discrimination against intersex people.

### Rationale behind medical intervention

According to Wikipedia,

> Medical interventions take place to address physical health concerns, and psychosocial risks. Both types of rationale are the subject of debate, particularly as the consequences of surgical (and many hormonal) interventions are lifelong and irreversible. Questions regarding physical health include accurately assessing risk levels, necessity and timing. Psychosocial rationales are particularly susceptible to questions of necessity as they reflect social and cultural concerns.

Medical description of intersex traits as **disorders of sex development** has been controversial since the label was introduced in 2006 (Lee, et al., 2006). The DSM-5 included a change from using *Gender Identity Disorder* to *Gender Dysphoria*. This revised code now specifically includes intersex people who do not identify with their sex assigned at birth, using the language of *Disorders of Sex Development*, and this move was criticised by intersex advocacy groups in Australia and New Zealand (Kraus, 2015).

There remains no clinical consensus about an evidence base, surgical timing, necessity, type of surgical intervention, and degree of difference warranting intervention (Lee, et al., 2016)(Mouriquand, et al., 2016)(Creighton, et al., 2011). Such surgeries are the subject of significant contention due to consequences that include trauma, impact on sexual function and sensation, and violation of rights to physical and mental integrity (OHCHR, 2016).

In fact it seems that the opposite is true. Whilst it is often believed that it is essential for gender assignment surgery at or near birth, medicalisation and stigmatisation of intersex people result in significant trauma and mental health concerns (IIF, 2013). Whilst the IIF at the same meeting stated that

> \[To ensure\] the bodily integrity and well-being of intersex people, autonomous non-pathologising psycho-social and peer support \[should\] be available to intersex people throughout their life (as self-required), as well as to parents and/or care providers.

As for the case of Searyl Atli Doty, there will be no information on any potential future psychological effects to this baby for reasons stated in my short answer.

Having said that, gender is an important part of a person's sense of identification within society. UCL (University College London) has an LGBT Student Support page which states

> Gender Identity is a person's individual sense of femaleness or maleness. It is also, to some degree, a social construction that categorises certain behaviours into male and female roles. Gender identity conflicts can stem from an individual's gender indentity not matching their biological sex, an individual's gender identity being neither completely male nor female, or an individual's biological sex not being uniquely male or female.

hence the reason why there are so many different gender identities **and sexualities** within the LGBTQIA community.

Because of the way society frames everyone based on gender, it seems important to have a gender identity, so aside from the possible legal issues such as

> which set of toilets is Searyl going to be legally allowed to use?

it will be interesting to the field of Psychology, how being registered and raised without a gender would affect Searyl's wellbeing.

## References

Creighton, S. M., et al., 2011. *Childhood surgery for ambiguous genitalia: glimpses of practice changes or more of the same?* Psychology & Sexuality 5(1): pp. 34—43
DOI: 10.1080/19419899.2013.831214

IIF, 2013. The statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, December 2013 \[Online\]
Available at: http://intersexday.org/en/third-international-intersex-forum

Kraus, C., 2015. *Classifying Intersex in DSM-5: Critical Reflections on Gender Dysphoria*. Archives of Sexual Behavior 44(5): pp. 1147—1163
DOI: 10.1007/s10508-015-0550-0

Lee, P. A., et al., 2006. *Consensus Statement on Management of Intersex Disorders*. Pediatrics 18(2)
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-0738 PMID: 16882788

Lee, P. A., et al., 2016. *Global Disorders of Sex Development Update since 2006: Perceptions, Approach and Care*. Hormone Research in Paediatrics 85: pp. 158—180
DOI: 10.1159/000442975

Mouriquand, P. D. E., et al., 2016. *Surgery in disorders of sex development (DSD) with a gender issue: If (why), when, and how?* Pediatric Urology 12(3): pp. 139—149
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpurol.2016.04.001

OHCHR, 2016. *End violence and harmful medical practices on intersex children and adults, UN and regional experts urge* Intersex Awareness Day – Wednesday 26 October 2016 \[Online\]
Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20739&LangID=E
> 5 votes

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Tags: social-psychology, developmental-psychology, gender
---


title: Episodic Memory Decoding

text:
# Question
Title: Episodic Memory Decoding
I'm planning a study on memorability of episodic events. Therefore, participants record a couple of hours of their daily life using an egocentric camera (encoding). After a certain time, they are shown snippets from the recording and judge whether they remember it or not (decoding).

I don't have a psychological background, hence I have some questions:

* **How long should the snippets be?** Currently, we have 5sec videos, separated by 10sec margin. I know chunking, however, it happens in encoding phase, I'm looking for an equivalent in decoding.
* Maybe showing a few **frames** from the video is **better than** playing **video?**
* How long should the **time between encoding and decoding** be? Currently, it's 6 to 8 days. I'm aware of Time Scale Similarity.
* I've found a work that suggests that **asking people** whether they remember or not **is sensible**. However, any further evidence would be great.
* I think Experiences of Remembering, Knowing, and Guessing is also highly related.

As this is a scientific work, references are highly appreciated.

# Answer
The answers to your questions in your post would depend on the scope of your study. For example, with

> How long should the time between encoding and decoding be?

it would depend on what criteria is set within the scope of the study. If the people who are asking you to perform the study are asking for specific timescales then you need to stick to them and outline that in your report.

If however you have freedom to do so, as you seem to be asking on a psychological standpoint, it may be beneficial to test different timescales and maybe tabulate the results of memorability against time. You could even test different timescales against different ranges of emotional levels attached to the event.

For example,

**does a person remember a highly emotional episodic memory longer than a non-emotional one?**

**What about medium levels of emotions?**

You could also add to this with your question on how long snippets should be.

**Does a 5sec video snippet help someone to remember better than a single frame image?**

If you have the time and freedom to explore, you can conduct a large amount of research on memory. It would only be down to how wide you can make the scope of the study whilst keeping it within the remit of what you are trying to find out.
> 1 votes

# Answer
Episodic memory is probably the most complicated kind of memory, and a lot of these parameters are going to vary in interesting ways - for example, playing a video may result in better recall (what you call "decoding") because it preserves the temporal context of the memory. These things are interesting, and the way you treat them depends **entirely on the specific question you are interested in asking.**

There's a lot of parameters here that you're going to want to just test out (and report the results of in your paper!).

However, I want to leave you with a study that may help guide your thinking. These authors did something similar, but were more interested in the neurophysiology - you might find some helpful context.
> 0 votes

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Tags: reference-request, methodology, episodic-memory
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# Question
Title: What variables allow one to empirically and scientifically quantify trends for learning curves?
Specifically, I am trying to quantify trends in learning for certain mediums of audio-visual communication, and what I've gathered so far suggests that there are 4 distinguishable types, being linear, logarithmic (or possibly asymptotic), exponential and ogive. How can I go from peoples qualitative observations to an actual mathematical function to show these patterns for a specific medium? Would one measure...success rate over time and that's it? Or what?

# Answer
**Short answer**
In psychophysical tests, often %correct rates are determined. Hence, training effects are often measured by determining correct rates. The ultimate outcome measures can be wildly variable, as they are dependent on the physical characteristics of the stimulus (visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory *etc*).

**Background**
Learning curves can be measured by measuring the performance on a certain task.

From what I understand of your question you are:

> ...trying to quantify trends in learning for *certain mediums* of audio-visual communication...

and you are looking for

> What one measure...success rate over time and that's it? Or what?

Taking a personal vantage point here, I have measured learning effects using various auditory, tactile and visual **psychophysical** tests (though not a combination of them like an audio-visual test as you are planning). I will provide a few tests I have done so far to look at training effects and I will provide some basic background information on psychophysics. Please following the links if you wish to learn more on specific subjects. I have measured the following, among others:

* **Speech understanding** by measuring the **speech-recognition threshold (SRT)** in noise using the Dutch Matrix test (Houben & Dreschler, 2015). The SRT basically shows you the signal-to-noise ratio where speech understanding is 50% correct. In other words, it shows how much noise a listener can handle to still understand 50% of the words in the sentences heard. I've performed this test for 12 times over four several sessions and **within** as well as **between-session** learning effects were observed, and also within-run training effects (unpublished observations);
* Vibro-tactile **detection threshold**. Basically we asked the subject to answer in a **yes/no task** if they felt a stimulus and the outcome measure was that **stimulus level where the correct rate was 50%**. There was no learning effect observed within and between sessions. A within-run training effect was observed, which may have been due to **procedural training effects** (unpublished observations);
* Tactile spatial acuity using (**2-point discrimination**); here a person was asked to answer whether one or two stimuli were felt and then, again, a **percent-correct rate** (here: 62.5%) score was determined ultimately expressed as that **distance where correct rate was 62.5%**. No training effects other than procedural learning were observed (Stronks *et al*, 2017);
* A vibrotactile **intensity-difference (JND) task**, where the subject was asked to indicate whether they could feel the difference in intensity of two stimuli. Again the correct rates were measured and expressed as that intensity where the %correct scores equaled a certain threshold (Stronks *et al*, 2017).
* **Visual acuity** was measured with a **grating task** \- again percent correct is measured, but there the outcome is visual acuity, namely an **angle of resolution** where the %correct rate exceeds a certain threshold. There was procedural learning observed (unpublished observations).

Note that most of the above tasks were **alternative forced choice (AFC) tasks**, where the threshold (%correct) is dependent on the number of choices.

<sub>**References**
**-** Houben & Dreschler, *Trends Hear* (2015); **11**(19): 1-10
**-** Stronks *et al*, *Artif Organs* (2017); in press</sub>
> 5 votes

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Tags: experimental-psychology, statistics, experiment-design
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# Question
Title: Can you Counteract the Negative Effects of Sleep Deprivation?
There are many studies accounting the negative effects of sleep deprivation which all seem to detail the deficiency of time for your body to "reset" and how this leave it in a depleted state. If you: efficiently supplemented the body with nutrients, also accounting for the extra time awake; rested enough throughout the day for your body to recover fully; maintained a healthy and focused mindset; maybe even adapted/trained your body to prevent the negative effects, could you go without sleep?

# Answer
Nutrients have little to do with it\*, it's the rest cycles that are important.

Cells are messy, stumbling, statistically functional things. Periodically, a cell needs to take a break so it can perform basic maintenance tasks and undo the disorder its incurred handling numerous signaling and protein construction mechanisms \[1\]. For neurons, this is particularly difficult. If they take a break, they begin to lose information as they undergo long term changes in response to their activity level. So instead, animals with sufficiently complex nervous systems enter a state of reduced activity (called sleep) to help perform maintenance \[2\] - there's also some question to how it might contribute to memory, but that subject is more contentious \[3\].

There may be volitional mental states that are achievable that can do the same things as sleep can (give all the different parts of the nervous system rest cycles and slow down metabolism) but nobody has been able to prove it yet, that I know of. Harvard researcher, Dr. Herbert Benson, claimed it was possible in *The Relaxation Response*, but I don't know of any one actually demonstrating it in trials.

\*Granted, if you don't sleep, your metabolism doesn't slow down and you burn through nutrients faster.
> 5 votes

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Tags: sleep
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# Question
Title: What cognitive bias (loosely) makes us all the more susceptible to the golden age fallacy
Why do the good ol' days seem better than they actually are? Is this a result of an error in human thought or is it because things are actually worsening?

# Answer
> 3 votes
The cognitive bias behind nostalgia is called rosy retrospection:

> ... the psychological phenomenon of people sometimes judging the past disproportionately more positively than they judge the present.

A common explanation for this phenomenon is Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST):

> The theory maintains that as time horizons shrink, as they typically do with age, people become increasingly selective, investing greater resources in emotionally meaningful goals and activities. According to the theory, motivational shifts also influence cognitive processing. Aging is associated with a relative preference for positive over negative information in attention and memory (called the "positivity effect").

Related to this, but somewhat different is the Pollyanna principle:

> ... (also called Pollyannaism or positivity bias) is the tendency for people to remember pleasant items more accurately than unpleasant ones.

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Tags: cognitive-psychology, memory, bias
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