Passive Experience Research Articles

Sensorimotor Induction of Auditory Misattribution in Early Psychosis.

Dysfunction of sensorimotor predictive processing is thought to underlie abnormalities in self-monitoring producing passivity symptoms in psychosis. Experimentally induced sensorimotor conflict can produce a failure in bodily self-monitoring (presence hallucination [PH]), yet it is unclear how this is related to auditory self-monitoring and psychosis symptoms. Here we show that the induction of sensorimotor conflict in early psychosis patients induces PH and impacts auditory-verbal self-monitoring. Participants manipulated a haptic robotic system inducing a bodily sensorimotor conflict. In experiment 1, the PH was measured. In experiment 2, an auditory-verbal self-monitoring task was performed during the conflict. Fifty-one participants (31 early psychosis patients, 20 matched controls) participated in the experiments. The PH was present in all participants. Psychosis patients with passivity experiences (PE+) had reduced accuracy in auditory-verbal self-other discrimination during sensorimotor stimulation, but only when sensorimotor stimulation involved a spatiotemporal conflict (F(2, 44) = 6.68, P = .002). These results show a strong link between robotically controlled alterations in sensorimotor processing and auditory misattribution in psychosis and provide evidence for the role of sensorimotor processes in altered self-monitoring in psychosis.

Passive immunotherapy experience in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma

Introduction. Despite great achievements in treatment of neuroblastoma (NB) for the last decades, the outcome for high-risk patients remains adverse: 5-year overall survival does not exceed 30 %. The purpose of the study. Demonstration of anti-GD2 monoclonal antibodies immunotherapy and assessment of its toxicity in patients treated at the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology. Material and methods . Anti-GD2 antibodies have been used as post consolidation in 8 high-risk NB patients aged from 1.8 to 10 years old since 2018 to present. After completion of induction chemotherapy according to NB-2004protocol, all patients underwent local tumor control with surgery and additional local radiotherapy in 3 cases. Four patients were received a single high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplant; one patient was received high-dose chemotherapy with haploidentical stem cell transplantation. Tree patients were received the tandem high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation. Two (25 %) patients had a primary resistant NB, and remission was achieved only after three lines of chemotherapy. One (12.5 %) child was diagnosed with a recurrence of NB of a solitary lesion in the right frontal lobe of the brain 8 months after the completion of the treatment according to the NB-2004protocol. Thus, 3 people from the study group received anti-GD2 antibodies after applying several lines of chemotherapy. All children at the start ofanti-GD2 antibody therapy were no progressive disease. Results. A total of 21 courses of immunotherapy were conducted. No progressive disease was the main condition of anti-GD2 antibodies immunotherapy, such patients were excluded from the research. The antibodies were administered as a continuous infusion during 10 days (240 hours) in a daily dose of 10 mg/m2. When using the antibodies, the following adverse events were noted: hematotoxicity in 90.4 % cases, fever in 71.4 %, diarrhea in 23.8 %, capillary leak syndrome in 19 % patients, neuropathy and cytokine release syndrome were detected in 14.9 % cases, pain — in 9.5 % patients. All complications were tolerable and cured, dose reduction was not required. Now 7patients are in remission, in one patient after the first cycle of immunotherapy progressive disease was revealed. Conclusions. The immunotherapy monoclonal anti-GD2 antibodies are well tolerable and safe procedure with adequate maintenance therapy. According to international experience the efficiency does not raise her doubts.

Maisha ni kuvumiliya – patrimonialism, progress and the ambiguities of waiting in Goma, DR Congo

Maisha ni kuvumiliya – ‘Life is patience’ is a very popular catchphrase in Goma, the capital of Eastern Congo’s North Kivu province. Patience takes waiting as a starting point for progress and points to the uncertainties on the horizon. In a world of velocity and mobility, young people, who are so often forced to wait, feel frustrated about being ‘stuck’ or in ‘waithood’. Drawing on ethnographic examples gathered during longitudinal fieldwork carried out since 2008 in Goma, DR Congo, I will analyze various biographical trajectories that indicate that waiting, despite its immobilizing effects, should not be reduced to a passive experience; it can also be understood as productive space in which Goma’s youth engage in relational practices with the objects/subjects they are waiting for. The ambiguities of waiting become manifest in Goma’s political economy where gerontocratic and patrimonial politics dominate and impede progress. As context-specific practice, waiting is connected to larger discussions around youth, experiences of temporalities and political-economic factors.

Chapter 8 - Critical periods of brain development

Brain plasticity is maximal at specific time windows during early development known as critical periods (CPs), during which sensory experience is necessary to establish optimal cortical representations of the surrounding environment. After CP closure, a range of functional and structural elements prevent passive experience from eliciting significant plastic changes in the brain. The transition from a plastic to a more fixed state is advantageous as it allows for the sequential consolidation and retention of new and more complex perceptual, motor, and cognitive functions. However, the formation of stable neural representations may pose limitations on future revisions to the circuitry. If sensory experience is abnormal or absent during this time, it can have profound effects on sensory representations in adulthood, resulting in quasi-permanent adaptations that can make it nearly impossible to learn certain skills or process certain stimulus properties later on in life. This chapter begins with a brief introduction to experience-dependent plasticity throughout the lifespan (Section Introduction). Next, we define what constitutes a CP (Section What Are Critical Periods?) and review some of the key CPs in the visual and auditory systems (Section Key Critical Periods of Sensory Systems). We then discuss the mechanisms whereby cortical plasticity is regulated both locally and through neuromodulatory systems (Section How Are Critical Periods Regulated?). Finally, we highlight studies showing that CPs can be extended beyond their normal epochs, closed prematurely, or reopened during adult life by merely altering sensory inputs (Section Timing of Critical Periods: Can CP Plasticity Be Extended, Limited, or Reactivated?).

Fractionating auditory priors: A neural dissociation between active and passive experience of musical sounds.

Learning, attention and action play a crucial role in determining how stimulus predictions are formed, stored, and updated. Years-long experience with the specific repertoires of sounds of one or more musical styles is what characterizes professional musicians. Here we contrasted active experience with sounds, namely long-lasting motor practice, theoretical study and engaged listening to the acoustic features characterizing a musical style of choice in professional musicians with mainly passive experience of sounds in laypersons. We hypothesized that long-term active experience of sounds would influence the neural predictions of the stylistic features in professional musicians in a distinct way from the mainly passive experience of sounds in laypersons. Participants with different musical backgrounds were recruited: professional jazz and classical musicians, amateur musicians and non-musicians. They were presented with a musical multi-feature paradigm eliciting mismatch negativity (MMN), a prediction error signal to changes in six sound features for only 12 minutes of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings. We observed a generally larger MMN amplitudes–indicative of stronger automatic neural signals to violated priors–in jazz musicians (but not in classical musicians) as compared to non-musicians and amateurs. The specific MMN enhancements were found for spectral features (timbre, pitch, slide) and sound intensity. In participants who were not musicians, the higher preference for jazz music was associated with reduced MMN to pitch slide (a feature common in jazz music style). Our results suggest that long-lasting, active experience of a musical style is associated with accurate neural priors for the sound features of the preferred style, in contrast to passive listening.

“Exiled from all Gregarity”: Profane Love, Poetics and Political Imagination in Barthes and Agamben

This article offers the literary and philosophical concept of “profane love”, following the juxtaposition of Giorgio Agamben’s concept of singular love and his political and poetic project of profanation, with the figurative and scattered notions of love found in Roland Barthes A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments. The article opens with a critique of the discursive state of love today and its relation to politics and power. Following Barthes idea of an obscene and Agamben’s notions of profanation and exposure, the article argues that love should be thought of as an experience in passivity that happens in the encounter and touch of two separate singularities. This process, the article argues, involves the imagination, and as such is thought of with regard to political and poetic imagination. The article thus thinks of Agamben’s notoriously pessimistic figure of the Homo-Sacer – the abandoned man – in a new light. It argues that the lover, as a participant in a radical experience of passivity and exposure, can also be thought of as abandoned, offering an affirmative perspective on Agamben’s political thought.

Alterations of agency in hypnosis: A new predictive coding model.

Hypnotic suggestions can lead to altered experiences of agency, reality, and memory. The present work is primarily concerned with alterations of the sense of agency (SoA) following motor suggestions. When people respond to the suggestion that their arm is rising up all by itself, they usually have a feeling of passivity for their action. The mechanisms leading to such alterations of the SoA are still controversial. We propose a theoretical model based on the framework of predictive coding: The view that the brain constantly generates hypotheses that predict sensory input at varying levels of abstraction and minimizes prediction errors either by updating its prior hypotheses-perceptual inference-or by modifying sensory input through action-active inference. We argue that suggested motor behavior and the experience of passivity accompanying it can be accounted for in terms of active inference. We propose that motor suggestions optimize both proprioceptive predictions and actual proprioceptive evidence through attentional modulation. The comparison between predicted and actual sensory evidence leads to highly precise prediction errors that call for an explanation. The motor suggestion readily supplies such an explanation by providing a prior of nonagency to the subject. We present this model in detail and discuss how it relates to, and differs from, other recent models of hypnosis. We compare its predictions with the predictions derivable from these other models. We also discuss the potential application of our predictive account to reality and memory alterations in hypnosis and offer an explanation of interindividual differences in hypnotic suggestibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Translating Research as an Approach to Enhance Science Engagement.

The impact of research depends on the effective communication of discoveries. Scientific writing is the primary tool for the dissemination of research, and is an important skill that biomedical trainees have to develop. Despite its importance, scientific writing is not part of the mainstream curriculum. One strategy used to teach scientific writing is holding a journal club style discussion of primary research literature that the students are asked to read. However, this activity can result in a passive learning experience and limit the development of trainees’ scientific writing skills. In order to improve trainees’ written communication skills, we tested an exercise that involved generating a revised article describing prior research, in essence “translating” the science into basic language. Following the guidelines set out by “Frontiers for Young Minds” and feedback received from “Young Reviewers”, we wrote a revised article with a simpler description of the research. In this article, we describe this scientific writing exercise, which may ultimately serve as a model for scientists to share their research more efficiently in order to promote better public health outcomes.

Move to learn: Integrating spatial information from multiple viewpoints

Recalling a spatial layout from multiple orientations – spatial flexibility – is challenging, even when the global configuration can be viewed from a single vantage point, but more so when it must be viewed piecemeal. In the current study, we examined whether experiencing the transition between multiple viewpoints enhances spatial memory and flexible recall for a spatial configuration viewed simultaneously (Exp. 1) and sequentially (Exp. 2), whether the type of transition matters, and whether action provides an additional advantage over passive experience. In Experiment 1, participants viewed an array of dollhouse furniture from four viewpoints, but with all furniture simultaneously visible. In Experiment 2, participants viewed the same array piecemeal, from four partitioned viewpoints that allowed for viewing only a segment at a time. The transition between viewpoints involved rotation of the array or participant movement around it. Rotation and participant movement were passively experienced or actively generated. The control condition presented the dollhouse as a series of static views. Across both experiments, participant movement significantly enhanced spatial memory relative to array rotation or static views. However, in Exp. 2, there was a further advantage for actively walking around the array compared to being passively pushed. These findings suggest that movement around a stable environment is key to spatial memory and flexible recall, with action providing an additional boost to the integration of temporally segmented spatial events. Thus, spatial memory may be more flexible than prior data indicate, when studied under more natural acquisition conditions.

BLANCHOT AND THE RESONANT SPACES OF LITERATURE, SOUND, ART AND THOUGHT

This article sets out to think through the double absence of literary language posited by Blanchot in L’Espace littéraire in the shadow (or, rather, echo) cast by a consideration of Alvin Lucier’s piece I am sitting in a room and the sound installation practice of Bernhard Leitner. What I wish to suggest is that a consideration of these sound works enables us to identify a parallelism in the mechanics of the literary sign that creates the space of literature in Blanchot and the (quasi-)phenomenological experience of the visitor entering into and thereby enacting the space of installation. If the term “phenomenological” here requires a parenthetical qualifier, this is because the double absence enacted on the sign in Blanchot is deployed here from within the visitor in the creation of the space of installation in a move that requires us to reformulate our thinking about the creation of space of all kinds. In revisiting Blanchot’s L’Espace littéraire in this way, it is suggested that the ethical and political potential of the work of art that was to occupy Blanchot ever more as his career progressed was always already present in this early work and that it is not so much that literature’s essential solitude later becomes an essential relationality but, rather, that it always was precisely this. If this is so, it is suggested, this is because for Blanchot literature is an experience of extreme passivity, the potential of which becomes apparent when thinking through Blanchot’s conceptualisation of the phenomenon of resonance.

Efficacy of an Interactive E-Learning curriculum in the NICU (INTERN) compared to traditional instruction as a method to improve pediatric resident education - a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) Residency Review and Redesign in Pediatrics program (R3P) encourages the development of skills for life-long learning and patient care through innovative approaches such as simulation and computer-assisted learning (CAL). CAL caters to adult learning theory and transforms a passive learning experience into an active one with improved retention and application of knowledge. Studies show that CAL appears more effective than no intervention although a developing infrastructure to support e-learning within medical education is needed. Hypothesis: An interactive e-learning curriculum combined with traditional instruction in the …

T178. PRIOR SUB-THRESHOLD PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THICKER RIGHT INFERIOR FRONTAL GYRUS AMONG PATIENTS IN A FIRST EPISODE OF PSYCHOSIS

BackgroundIndividuals with attenuated or sub-threshold psychotic symptoms (STPS) are considered at-risk for psychosis. The notion that STPS represent “early psychosis” holds promise as it suggests the possibility of charting the developmental course of psychotic illness with neuroimaging. However, recent evidence suggests that a significant minority of patients in a first episode of psychosis (FEP) do not recall pre-onset STPS, suggesting diversity in early positive symptom course. This diversity may be reflected at the level of neurodevelopment. While imaging studies of at-risk youth and FEP patients reveal progressive trends in cortical thinning across stages of illness, none have considered the STPS history of FEP patients. To better understand neurobiological trends across illness stages, we investigate the relationships between STPS history and cortical thickness in FEP patients using a whole-brain approach.MethodsPatients (N=93) were recruited from a specialized early intervention clinic for FEP at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. The Circumstances of Onset and Relapse Schedule was administered to identify youth who recalled at least one of nine expert-selected STPS prior to their FEP (STPS+, N=67) compared to those who did not (STPS-, N=26). These STPS include: Suspiciousness or odd ideas of reference, odd or bizarre ideas that are not delusional, unusual or eccentric behavior, unusual perceptual experiences that are not clearly psychotic, disorganized or odd speech, inappropriate affect, hallucinations or delusions (sub-threshold), and passivity experiences. Age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited (N=83) for comparison. Participants were scanned on a 1.5T MRI scanner between 1 and 3 times at baseline, at 1-year follow-up, and at 2-year follow-up. Structural T1-weighted images were processed through the CIVET 2.1 pipeline. Cortical thickness values of 320 scans (143 HC, 123 STPS+, 54 STPS-) that passed quality control were extracted for group analysis. Linear mixed effects models controlling for effects of age, sex, education, and mean whole-brain thickness were applied to obtain vertex-wise F-test maps comparing groups.ResultsPost-hoc vertex-wise t-test maps were thresholded with Random Field Theory (p-cluster=0.001) and revealed that compared to controls, only STPS- patients exhibited significantly thinner cortical thickness in the right inferior frontal gyrus (peak t(162.3)=4.13, p<0.001). Examination of mean cortical thickness within this cluster, comparing patient groups only, revealed that compared to STPS+ patients, STPS- patients exhibited significantly thinner cortical thickness (t(172)=-2.55, p=0.01). This difference was most pronounced at baseline.DiscussionThese results indicate that within the right prefrontal cortex, STPS+/- patients may undergo different cortical maturation trajectories leading up to and through a first episode of psychosis. These differences may explain differential vulnerability to sub-threshold psychotic symptomology before a full-blown episode. In addition to suggesting differential underlying neurobiology related to STPS, these results suggest the importance of considering STPS history in mapping the trajectories of cortical thickness among FEP patients.

Older People's Self–Selected Spaces of Encounter in Urban Aging Environments in the Netherlands

Using a narrative methodology involving 216 older people in six urban aging environments in the Netherlands, we examined how they use and experience (semi–)public spaces as spaces of encounter, and the meanings they derive from using and experiencing these spaces. The research shows that, first, older people prefer commercial spaces like shopping malls to planned and designed activity spaces in care homes or neighborhood centers. Second, older people struggle with the transformations that have taken place in urban social life since they were young adults. Third, especially frail older people derive meaning from a more passive experience of urban social life, in an observer role. The findings allow us to contribute to ongoing debates on the shifting boundaries between public and private space, and the moral implications of these shifting boundaries from the perspective of a diverse group of older users.

Multivariate Bayesian decoding of single-trial event-related fMRI responses for memory retrieval of voluntary actions.

This study proposes a method for classifying event-related fMRI responses in a specialized setting of many known but few unknown stimuli presented in a rapid event-related design. Compared to block design fMRI signals, classification of the response to a single or a few stimulus trial(s) is not a trivial problem due to contamination by preceding events as well as the low signal-to-noise ratio. To overcome such problems, we proposed a single trial-based classification method of rapid event-related fMRI signals utilizing sparse multivariate Bayesian decoding of spatio-temporal fMRI responses. We applied the proposed method to classification of memory retrieval processes for two different classes of episodic memories: a voluntarily conducted experience and a passive experience induced by watching a video of others’ actions. A cross-validation showed higher classification performance of the proposed method compared to that of a support vector machine or of a classifier based on the general linear model. Evaluation of classification performances for one, two, and three stimuli from the same class and a correlation analysis between classification accuracy and target stimulus positions among trials suggest that presenting two target stimuli at longer inter-stimulus intervals is optimal in the design of classification experiments to identify the target stimuli. The proposed method for decoding subject-specific memory retrieval of voluntary behavior using fMRI would be useful in forensic applications in a natural environment, where many known trials can be extracted from a simulation of everyday tasks and few target stimuli from a crime scene.

Film Writing Adapted for Game Narrative: Myth or Error?

Film Writing Adapted for Game Narrative: Myth or Error?

215. Action-Based Cognitive Remediation: Pairing Cognitive Training With Skill Development and CBT Principles

Background: Most people with mental disorders experience a reduction of symptoms with treatment, but recovery of everyday functions is often delayed and incomplete. Cognitive Remediation is widely recognized as an efficacious treatment that improves attention, memory, and executive functions, but its ability to effectively promote behavior change is more limited and retention in treatment is often low. In response, we developed Action-Based Cognitive Remediation (ABCR) to build on intact procedural learning skills, pair neurocognitive training with skill-based training, and promote engagement in everyday behaviors considered cognitively challenging. We sought to determine if ABCR was more efficacious (improved neurocognition) and more effective (improved functional skills and vocational outcomes) than traditional cognitive remediation. Methods: In this study, we compared ABCR to a traditional form of cognitive remediation in 50 participants with severe mental disorders. Treatment was 10 weeks, twice per week, in a group format. Both treatments provided computerized cognitive training, discussions of how to monitor and flexibly adapt strategies when solving problems, and discussions of how cognitive skills and strategies can be used in everyday life. Compared to traditional cognitive remediation, ABCR also included role-plays in simulated work tasks and goal setting with an emphasis on seeking cognitive challenge in everyday life. Results: Cognitive response was moderate to large and statistically significant for both groups. and the ABCR group demonstrated larger improvements in a role-play measure of functional skills (P < .001). A statistical trend was observed for more participants in the ABCR group working at 6 months postintervention (P = .09) and, among those working, ABCR participants reported less job stress (P = .03). ABCR was more tolerable, with 83% retention rates compared to 57% for traditional cognitive remediation (P = .03). Conclusion: These results support the placing of cognitive training within a broader skill training and psychotherapeutic milieu that encourages approaching cognitively challenging activities and reducing withdrawal from social and instrumental tasks. Compared to the more passive experience of traditional cognitive remediation, ABCR challenges participants to engage with their environment and produces larger and more lasting changes in behavior.

Children on Green Schoolyards: Nature Experience, Preferences, and Behavior

This study investigated how children are using green schoolyards and whether nature experiences occur there. The study included 38 interviews with children grades 1–10 at three schools. The interviews focused on students' nature experiences, their use of green schoolyards, and cohort effects. The results show that children have preferences for certain schoolyard environments. Younger children tended to prefer green areas, while older children tended to favor non-green areas largely due to social group interactions. Contact with nature was not of primary importance to the children, but they did report nature experiences. These were more common among younger children and girls, and they tended to primarily be passive experiences.

Inovação e Criatividade na Educação Básica: Dos con-ceitos ao ecossistema

A escola é a instituição do ideário educativo da sociedade e as mudanças no campo da educação, muitas delas estimuladas por recentes avanços no campo tecnológico, necessariamente passam por ela. Para aprender, o indivíduo precisa estar motivado, sensibilizado, interessado na informação que se lhe apresenta, e o modelo escolar não é voltado para motivar este interesse. Este problema fica mais acentuado ao se observar o currículo e as metodologias, que ao invés de estimularem a exploração da aprendizagem de forma inovadora e criativa, a tornam uma experiência meramente passiva. Desta forma, este artigo tem por objetivo i) introduzir os conceitos e metodologias para o estímulo às habilidades criativas na complexidade do ensino formal; ii) descrever diferentes manifestações de inovação e criatividade na educação básica nacional, por meio do uso de abordagens ativas com o apoio de tecnologias; iii) apresentar políticas públicas de estímulo à inovação e criatividade; e iv) propor um modelo ecossistêmico para habilitar, apoiar e promover atividades inovadoras e criativas por meio do adequado planejamento pedagógico que envolva a aplicação efetiva de recursos computacionais.

Alienation: Differential Psychopathology of Ego-Disturbances

Alienation, i. e. disorders of the inner experience of integrity, continuity, and agency, represents a feature of both psychotic and non-psychotic disorders. Thereby, ego disturbances are thought to be specific for schizophrenia. Depersonalisation, in contrast, has been reported in schizophrenia as well as a neurotic, probably distinct syndrome. The differentiation of psychotic vs. non-psychotic alienation is often all but trivial. The present paper provides an overview of the historical roots and the psychopathological conceptualizations of alienation. Clinically relevant features of psychotic alienation are highlighted. Experience of passivity, loss of authenticity and disturbances of striving and volition appear as psychotic characteristics.

Batch Version of Extensive Cancellation Algorithm for Clutter Mitigation in Frequency Domain of Passive Radar

Passive radar experiences a significant problem called multipath clutter. The Batch version of the Extensive Cancellation Algorithm (ECA-B) is an efficient method for clutter mitigation. With the increase in signal bandwidth, a greater number of segments is required to cancel the clutter across the entire frequency range. This affects the processing rate, detrimentally weakening and modulating the signal from low-speed targets. Thus, this paper proposes a method that uses ECA-B to process both reference and echo signals in the frequency domain. This method not only reduces the amount of calculation required but also avoids weakening and modulating the target signal, which is spread across many segments. The simulated and experimental data results confirm the correctness and validity of the proposed method.