Specific Exemplars Research Articles

A neural network model of hippocampal contributions to category learning

In addition to its critical role in encoding individual episodes, the hippocampus is capable of extracting regularities across experiences. This ability is central to category learning, and a growing literature indicates that the hippocampus indeed makes important contributions to this form of learning. Using a neural network model that mirrors the anatomy of the hippocampus, we investigated the mechanisms by which the hippocampus may support novel category learning. We simulated three category learning paradigms and evaluated the network’s ability to categorize and recognize specific exemplars in each. We found that the trisynaptic pathway within the hippocampus—connecting entorhinal cortex to dentate gyrus, CA3, and CA1—was critical for remembering exemplar-specific information, reflecting the rapid binding and pattern separation capabilities of this circuit. The monosynaptic pathway from entorhinal cortex to CA1, in contrast, specialized in detecting the regularities that define category structure across exemplars, supported by the use of distributed representations and a relatively slower learning rate. Together, the simulations provide an account of how the hippocampus and its constituent pathways support novel category learning.

Facilitating Veteran Student Success: Experiences from an Accelerated BS Program

Background: Military Veterans (MVs) face unique challenges that are important to recognize when building supportive academic environments. There is a need to broaden our understanding of the diverse student population within academia, requiring us to hear their voices and deduce facilitators and barriers to their academic transition and success. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the unique needs of MV students and understand obstacles and facilitators for successful transition and completion for MV students entering a civilian baccalaureate program. Method: This study was guided by a phenomenological approach; we conducted three focus group interviews with Veteran students (n = 17) and conducted verbatim transcription thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were identified that impacted student success: (1) military experience prepared me for academic challenges, (2) defining my new role, and (3) no one left behind. Specific exemplars for thematic components to support transitioning into a civilian academic program included incorporating a military liaison for academic guidance and mentoring, acknowledging baseline skills using competency-based cohorts, and facilitating opportunities for connecting with other Veterans. Conclusion: Preparation of faculty and staff to better understand MV’s specific needs in civilian academic environments is needed.

Sustained selective attention to chromatic information enhances visuocortical gain at the population level.

Prior work in selective attention research has shown that colour-selective attention enhances neural activity in visuocortical areas sensitive to the attended colour while suppressing activity in areas sensitive to ignored colours. However, it is currently unclear whether this effect is limited to attending to specific colour hues or extends to chromatic information more broadly. To investigate this question, we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) frequency tagging to quantify participants' visuocortical responses to specific elements embedded in arrays of flickering, randomly moving mid-complex patterns. Participants were instructed to attend to either coloured or greyscale patterns while ignoring the others. We found that attending to either coloured or greyscale patterns produced robust increases in ssVEP amplitudes both compared to ignored stimuli and to baseline. There was however no evidence of suppressed responses to ignored patterns. These findings demonstrate that attentional selection based on the presence or absence of chromatic information prompts selectively enhanced visuocortical processing but this selective amplification is not accompanied by suppression of unattended stimuli. Findings are consistent with theoretical notions that predict strong competition between specific exemplars within a given feature dimension, such as red or green, but weak competition between broadly defined stimulus categories, such as chromatic versus non-chromatic.

The time course of cross-modal representations of conceptual categories

To what extent does language production activate cross-modal conceptual representations? In picture naming, we view specific exemplars of concepts and then name them with a label, like “dog”. In overt reading, the written word does not express a specific exemplar. Here we used a decoding approach with magnetoencephalography (MEG) to address whether picture naming and overt word reading involve shared representations of superordinate categories (e.g., animal). This addresses a fundamental question about the modality-generality of conceptual representations and their temporal evolution. Crucially, we do this using a language production task that does not require explicit categorization judgment and that controls for word form properties across semantic categories. We trained our models to classify the animal/tool distinction using MEG data of one modality at each time point and then tested the generalization of those models on the other modality. We obtained evidence for the automatic activation of cross-modal semantic category representations for both pictures and words later than their respective modality-specific representations. Cross-modal representations were activated at 150 ms and lasted until around 450 ms. The time course of lexical activation was also assessed revealing that semantic category is represented before lexical access for pictures but after lexical access for words. Notably, this earlier activation of semantic category in pictures occurred simultaneously with visual representations. We thus show evidence for the spontaneous activation of cross-modal semantic categories in picture naming and word reading. These results serve to anchor a more comprehensive spatio-temporal delineation of the semantic feature space during production planning.

Extraction and generalisation of category-level information during visual statistical learning in autistic people.

We examined whether information extracted during a visual statistical learning task could be generalised from specific exemplars to semantically similar ones. We then looked at whether performance in autistic people differed to non-autistic people during a visual statistical learning task and specifically examined whether differences in performance between groups occurred when sequential information was presented at a semantic level. We did this by assessing recall performance using a two-alternative forced choice paradigm after presenting participants with a sequence of naturalistic scene images. 125 adult participants (61 participants with an autism diagnosis and 64 non-autistic controls) were presented with a fast serial presentation sequence of images and given a cover task to avoid attention being explicitly drawn to patterns in the underlying sequences. This was followed by a two-alternative forced choice task to assess participants' implicit recall. Participants were presented with 1 of 3 unique versions of the task, in which the presentation and assessment of statistical regularities was done at either a low feature-based level or a high semantic-based level. Participants were able to generalise statistical information from specific exemplars to semantically similar ones. There was an overall significant reduction in visual statistical learning in the autistic group but we were unable to determine whether group differences occurred specifically in conditions where the learning of semantic information was required. These results provide evidence that participants are able to extract statistical information that is presented at the level of specific exemplars and generalise it to semantically similar contexts. We also showed a modest but statistically significant reduction in recall performance in the autistic participants relative to the non-autistic participants.

Good Music: What It Is and Who Gets to Decide by John J. Sheinbaum

Reviewed by: Good Music: What It Is and Who Gets to Decide by John J. Sheinbaum Toby Young Good Music: What It Is and Who Gets to Decide. By John J. Sheinbaum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019. [xiii, 289 p. ISBN 9780226593241 (hardcover), $99; ISBN 9780226593388 (paperback), $32; ISBN 9780226593418 (e-book), $31.99.] Illustrations, bibliography, index. At a time of profound critical reflection within musical academia triggered in response to the major political movements of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, a book aiming to disrupt our engrained narratives of taste and value should be a very good thing. As both scholars and practitioners alike relocate labor into redressing historical and systemic imbalances in the industry, seeking to decolonize the canon by diversifying both repertory and modes of study, the power and agency of cultural gatekeepers in the validation of communities of taste (to use a Kantism) has never been clearer or more contentious. John J. Sheinbaum, in Good Music, attempts to do this by dismantling what he terms "traditional models for valuing music" (p. 1) through a series of seven chapters, each focused on a specific historicoaesthetic conception: Serious, Unified, Deep, Authentic, Heroic, Original, and Connected. For example, in the first chapter we are presented with a series of challenges to thinkers known for their hierarchization of music into "high" and "low," which Sheinbaum repudiates through specific exemplars (Bruce Springsteen's song "Lonesome Day" and Duke Ellington's Concerto for Cootie) to demonstrate popular music's ability to employ a formal sophistication typically associated with "higher" genres of music. Sheinbaum's writing style is incredibly affable and enjoyable to read. It is of particular value to this book that the author is able to skip through the dense and well-trodden paths of secondary literature (Theodor Adorno, Lawrence Kramer, Lydia Goehr, etc.) with a light-footed grace, but occasionally this ease denies us a more complex engagement with the source texts. For instance, progressive (or "prog") rock's "Adornian" value is evidenced, for Sheinbaum, through an imitation of late-period Beethoven in its "authentic artistic endeavor, of interacting critically with the changing culture and the music industry that functions within it . . . rather than merely constituting [End Page 576] an abandonment of countercultural and related musical concerns" (p. 141). In Adorno's readings, Beethoven's revolutionary breakaway from bourgeois ideals is not merely "good" because of its escape from social convention but because it illuminated "the schema of complaisant adequacy of music and society" (Theodor Adorno, Introduction to the Sociology of Music, trans. E. B. Ashton [New York: Seabury, 1976], 209)—termed "identity thinking"—which revealed the philosophical manifestation of power and domination. The more subtle negotiation of "simple" and "complex" elements that Sheinbaum writes so eloquently about in prog rock work very differently from the fundamental rupture that Adorno illuminates in the late works of Beethoven being used as a point of comparison here. Sheinbaum is in effect conflating two separate Adornian arguments: first, that the relationship between autonomy and commodity is fluid and subtle, existing reciprocally between the arts and society; and second, that value was afforded to Beethoven for a specific form of rupture (in this case, of the Hegelian ideal of art entering the empirical world in order to change it). Crucially, Adorno is clear that the latter mode of emancipatory value is simply not possible within our present social conditions (Theodor Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, trans. Robert Hullot-Kentor [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997], 169), and central to his negative dialectic was a fundamental belief that music can no longer simply claim autonomy by "escaping" the commodity system of social and economic values in the manner of classical Marxism. In other words, the formal complexity, sonic dissonance, and lyrical density of prog rock cannot be argued as holding radical values of autonomy simply because they present themselves as opposed to vernacular social aesthetics, considering that music's sonic pleasure and commodity reproduction still positions this within social entertainment. Where this book is at its best is in Sheinbaum's perceptive and evocative readings of specific musical works—like his critique of unity as a mode of engagement with the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or...

Defining in Detail and Evaluating Reliability of DSM-5 Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Among Children.

This paper describes a process to define a comprehensive list of exemplars for seven core Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and report on interrater reliability in applying these exemplars to determine ASD case classification. Clinicians completed an iterative process to map specific exemplars from the CDC Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network criteria for ASD surveillance, DSM-5 text, and diagnostic assessments to each of the core DSM-5 ASD criteria. Clinicians applied the diagnostic exemplars to child behavioral descriptions in existing evaluation records to establish initial reliability standards and then for blinded clinician review in one site (phase 1) and for two ADDM Network surveillance years (phase 2). Interrater reliability for each of the DSM-5 diagnostic categories and overall ASD classification was high (defined as very good .60-.79 to excellent ≥ .80 Kappa values) across sex, race/ethnicity, and cognitive levels for both phases. Classification of DSM-5 ASD by mapping specific exemplars from evaluation records by a diverse group of clinician raters is feasible and reliable. This framework provides confidence in the consistency of prevalence classifications of ASD and may be further applied to improve consistency of ASD diagnoses in clinical settings.

Complementary deficits in perceptual classification in pure alexia and acquired prosopagnosia – New insights from two classic cases

Pure alexia and prosopagnosia traditionally have been seen as prime examples of dissociated, category-specific agnosias affecting reading and face recognition, respectively. More recent accounts have moved towards domain-independent explanations that postulate potential cross-links between different types of visual agnosia. According to one proposal, abnormal crowding, i.e. the impairment of recognition when features of adjacent objects are positioned too closely to each other, might provide a unified account for the perceptual deficits experienced by an agnosic patient. An alternative approach is based on the notion of complementary visual subsystems favouring the processing of abstract categories and specific exemplars, respectively. To test predictions of these two approaches with regard to pure alexia and prosopagnosia, we present previously unpublished data on digit recognition and visual crowding from two in the neuropsychological literature extensively studied patients, KD and MT (e.g., Campbell et al., 1986; Landis and Regard, 1988; Rentschler et al., 1994). Patient MT, diagnosed with pure alexia, showed pronounced abnormal foveal crowding, whereas KD, diagnosed with prosopagnosia, did not. These results form a distinct double dissociation with the performance of the two patients in other perceptual classification tasks involving Gabor micropatterns and textures, as well as Glass patterns, which revealed a significantly greater impairment in KD relative to MT. Based on an analysis of the specific task demands we argue that prosopagnosia and pure alexia may involve complementary deficits in instantiation and abstraction, respectively, during perceptual classification, beyond any category specificity. Such an explanation appears in line with previous distinctions between a predominantly left-hemispheric, abstract-category and a predominantly right-hemispheric, specific-exemplar subsystem underlying object recognition.

The role of category- and exemplar-specific experience in ensemble processing of objects.

People can relatively easily report summary properties for ensembles of objects, suggesting that this information can enrich visual experience and increase the efficiency of perceptual processing. Here, we ask whether the ability to judge diversity within object arrays improves with experience. We surmised that ensemble judgments would be more accurate for commonly experienced objects, and perhaps even more for objects of expertise like faces. We also expected improvements in ensemble processing with practice with a novel category, and perhaps even more with repeated experience with specific exemplars. We compared the effect of experience on diversity judgments for arrays of objects, with participants being tested with either a small number of repeated exemplars or with a large number of exemplars from the same object category. To explore the role of more prolonged experience, we tested participants with completely novel objects (randomblobs), with objects familiar at the category level (cars), and with objects with which observers are experts at subordinate-level recognition (faces). For objects that are novel, participants showed evidence of improved ability to distribute attention. In contrast, for object categories with long-term experience, i.e., faces and cars, performance improved during the experiment but not necessarily due to improved ensemble processing. Practice with specific exemplars did not result in better diversity judgments for all object categories. Considered together, these results suggest that ensemble processing improves with experience. However, experience operates rapidly, the role of experience does not rely on exemplar-level knowledge and may not benefit from subordinate-level expertise.

Creativity and Cognition in Extreme Environments: The Space Arts as a Case Study.

Humans, like all organisms, have evolved to survive in specific environments, while some elect or are forced to live and work in extreme environments. Understanding cognition as it relates to environmental conditions, we use 4E cognition as a framework to explore creativity in extreme environments. Our paper examines space arts as a case study through the history, present practices, and future possible arts in the context of humans beyond the Kármán boundary of the Earth’s atmosphere. We develop a proposed taxonomy of space arts, based on prior taxonomies, and provide specific exemplars of space art developed by artists in space or for use by astronauts in space. Using examples of space art since the birth of the space age, we discuss (1) how human survival in extreme environments requires investment in the space arts, driven by consideration of various biopsychosocial factors and (2) how new scientific and engineering discoveries; such as the detection of air current patterns with paper airplanes in zero gravity, could be consequences or examples of creative thinking driven by artists in the various types of space art. We conclude by discussing possible benefits of space art, future research applications, and advocate that all space actors, government or private, involve artists in all projects beyond the Kármán Boundary of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Independent storage of different features of real-world objects in long-term memory.

People can store thousands of real-world objects in visual long-term memory with high precision. But are these objects stored as unitary, bound entities, as often assumed, or as bundles of separable features? We tested this in several experiments. In the first series of studies, participants were instructed to remember specific exemplars of real-world objects presented in a particular state (e.g., open/closed, full/empty, etc.), and then were asked to recognize either which exemplars they had seen (e.g., I saw this coffee mug), or which exemplar-state conjunctions they had seen (e.g., I saw this coffee mug and it was full). Participants had a large number of within-category confusions, for example misremembering which states went with which exemplars, while simultaneously showing strong memory for the features themselves (e.g., which states they had seen, which exemplars they had seen). In a second series of studies, we found further evidence of independence: participants were very good at remembering which exemplars they had seen independently of whether these items were presented in a new or old state, but the same did not occur for features known to be truly holistically represented. Thus, we find through 2 lines of evidence that the features of real-world objects that support exemplar discrimination and state discrimination are not bound, suggesting visual objects are not inherently unitary entities in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

What does a radical exemplar view not predict? A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than others given the same number of exemplars, and some categories remain difficult despite extensive training. Both of these results are difficult to reconcile with a learning and categorization system that operates only on specific exemplars. More generally, the article argues that specifying the empirical phenomena that a radical exemplar does not predict would aid in clarifying the radical exemplar proposal.

Data Management Practices in Academic Library Learning Analytics: A Critical Review

INTRODUCTION Data handling in library learning analytics plays a pivotal role in protecting patron privacy, yet the landscape of data management by librarians is poorly understood. METHODS This critical review examines data-handling practices from 54 learning analytics studies in academic libraries and compares them against the NISO Consensus Principles on User’s Digital Privacy in Library, Publisher, and Software-Provider Systems and data management best practices. RESULTS A number of the published research projects demonstrate inadequate data protection practices including incomplete anonymization, prolonged data retention, collection of a broad scope of sensitive information, lack of informed consent, and sharing of patron-identified information. DISCUSSION As with researchers more generally, libraries should improve their data management practices. No studies aligned with the NISO Principles in all evaluated areas, but several studies provide specific exemplars of good practice. CONCLUSION Libraries can better protect patron privacy by improving data management practices in learning analytics research.

Use of Diverse Case Studies in an Undergraduate Research Methods and Statistics Course

Psychology graduates are employed in a wide variety of workplace roles. The broad nature of these future workplace requirements can make it difficult for students to learn and apply classroom knowledge and challenging for educators to develop authentic and engaging materials. In research methods and statistics courses in particular it can be difficult to develop specific context exemplars. This article describes the design of a series of case studies and linked learning activities based on the experiences of psychology graduates in their real-world employment roles. These case studies were embedded in an undergraduate research methods and statistics course with the aim of improving engagement by more clearly articulating the link between classroom learning and future workplace roles. Student feedback suggests that the case studies were motivating and supportive of student learning; however, there was no evidence of an improvement in performance. This approach provides a rewarding, flexible template within which students and educators are able to explicitly discuss the relationship between current learning and future real-world roles.

Referendums and public policy: do more opportunities for direct participation affect policy outcomes?

Research on the effects of referendums and citizens’ initiatives in the USA and Switzerland have shown that provisions for institutions of direct democracy (referendums and initiatives) are statistically associated with lower inequality, lower budget deficits and higher levels of GDP per capita at the state/canton level. This paper breaks new ground by replicating the American and Swiss research on nationwide referendums in European democracies. The results differ in some respects from the Swiss and American results. While, this paper to a degree corroborates the association between equality and citizens’ initiatives, there is no evidence in support of the proposition that citizen-initiated referendums are correlated with lower public debt. And, contrary to the findings of the earlier research, the paper finds evidence that provisions for referendums lead to lower GDP per capita. Moreover, the analysis cannot point to specific exemplars of countries that showcase the relationships. It remains difficult to point to any specific policy effect of referendums and initiatives in Europe.

Envisioning Eden: the manufactured ecotourism environment of Singapore

ABSTRACTThe popularity of adopting ecotourism initiatives has led to a mushrooming of eco-precincts around the world. Arguably, ecotourism fulfils an ideological paradigm because of its inherent benefits to both natural and human environments. However, whilst theory has guided the justification for ecotourism and development of its principles, very little exists to steer how ecotourism should be unpacked across considerably varying dimensions of ecotourism across the globe. This research seeks to explain the notion of manufactured ecotourism from the perspective of Singapore. In a land-scarce country, ecotourism could hardly be conceivable in an environment where occupying physical space is expected to bring high economic returns on infrastructural investment. However, from a comparative case study approach, three specific exemplars of ecotourism developments have shown that the manufacturing of ecotourism has shifted the narrative of land use in Singapore and continues to transform the tourism landscape ...

Thought probes during prospective memory encoding: Evidence for perfunctory processes.

For nearly 50 years, psychologists have studied prospective memory, or the ability to execute delayed intentions. Yet, there remains a gap in understanding as to whether initial encoding of the intention must be elaborative and strategic, or whether some components of successful encoding can occur in a perfunctory, transient manner. In eight studies (N = 680), we instructed participants to remember to press the Q key if they saw words representing fruits (cue) during an ongoing lexical decision task. They then typed what they were thinking and responded whether they encoded fruits as a general category, as specific exemplars, or hardly thought about it at all. Consistent with the perfunctory view, participants often reported mind wandering (42.9%) and hardly thinking about the prospective memory task (22.5%). Even though participants were given a general category cue, many participants generated specific category exemplars (34.5%). Bayesian analyses of encoding durations indicated that specific exemplars came to mind in a perfunctory manner rather than via strategic, elaborative mechanisms. Few participants correctly guessed the research hypotheses and changing from fruit category cues to initial-letter cues eliminated reports of specific exemplar generation, thereby arguing against demand characteristics in the thought probe procedure. In a final experiment, encoding duration was unrelated to prospective memory performance; however, specific-exemplar encoders outperformed general-category encoders with no ongoing task monitoring costs. Our findings reveal substantial variability in intention encoding, and demonstrate that some components of prospective memory encoding can be done “in passing.”

Evaluating S(c)illy voices: The effects of salience, stereotypes, and co-present language variables on real-time reactions to regional speech

This article explores the relationship between salience, stereotypes, and cooccurring language variables in the social perception of language. Following previous work, we argue that sociolinguistic perception is dependent upon the ability of listeners to map the linguistic cues contained in a speech signal to stereotypes. However, we contend that the understanding of which language features contribute to those stereotypes, and how they do so in the specific context of talk, has been limited because of the tendency to focus on preselected variables and to control for the context in which they occur. We advance an account of the role of stereotypes in the social perception of language by using a new tool for capturing, visualizing, and querying listeners' real-time reactions to voice samples. Our survey instrument collects reactions to two topically distinct guises from the same speaker (taken from the Scilly Voices corpus), both of which contained a similar number of regionally distinctive accent features. As our survey instrument includes a review function enabling listeners to provide information on why certain features were notable to them, we are able to interrogate listeners' ability to respond to unspecified linguistic features. Ultimately, this enables us to build a more nuanced account of the interaction between a range of linguistic features and their relationship to message content, and allows us to demonstrate that both do evaluative and perceptual work. Our findings have important implications for those interested in understanding the situated meaning of linguistic features and, in particular, how researchers might continue to develop exemplar models of the ways in which social information is indexed to linguistic features. We argue that no experiment can be context-free and, as a result, researchers must consider ways of modeling the effects of co-present variants on a given exemplar, not just the social indices of specific exemplars themselves.*

Mixed methods evaluation of a quality improvement and audit tool for nurse-to-nurse bedside clinical handover in ward settings

BackgroundNurse bedside handover quality is influenced by complex interactions related to the content, processes used and the work environment. Audit tools are seldom tested in ‘real’ settings. ObjectiveExamine the reliability, validity and usability of a quality improvement tool for audit of nurse bedside handover. DesignNaturalistic, descriptive, mixed-methods. SettingSix inpatient wards at a single large not-for-profit private health service in Victoria, Australia. ParticipantsFive nurse experts and 104 nurses involved in 199 change-of-shift bedside handovers. MethodsA focus group with experts and pilot test were used to examine content and face validity, and usability of the handover audit tool. The tool was examined for inter-rater reliability and usability using observation audits of handovers across six wards. Data were collected in 2013–2014. ResultsTwo independent observers for 72 audits demonstrated acceptable inter-observer agreement for 27 (77%) items. Reliability was weak for items examining the handover environment. Seventeen items were not observed reflecting gaps in practices. Across 199 observation audits, gaps in nurse bedside handover practice most often related to process and environment, rather than content items. Usability was impacted by high observer burden, familiarity and non-specific illustrative behaviours. ConclusionThe reliability and validity of most items to audit handover content was acceptable. Gaps in practices for process and environment items were identified. Context specific exemplars and reducing the items used at each handover audit can enhance usability. Further research is needed to develop context specific exemplars and undertake additional reliability testing using a wide range of handover settings. What is already known about this topic•The quality of nurse bedside handover is influenced by complex interactions related to the content, processes used and the work environment.•Standardised handover tools to guide training, coaching and audit provide a consistent framework of behaviours, content and processes in line with expectations of quality practice.•Reliable and valid handover quality improvement tools are necessary to provide quality data to improve patient safety and quality of care, however these are seldom examined in the context of daily practice. Contribution of the paper•High content and face validity of the handover audit tool provides guidance to standardise practices to improve the quality of nurse bedside handover related to content, process and environment across different clinical contexts.•This research demonstrated nurse handover practices related to content were most frequently addressed, but gaps related to handover process and environmental safety emerged.•Tool reliability was acceptable for frequently observed content items, however practice improvement is required before further reliability analysis can evaluate process and environment items.

A Return to Wisdom: Using Sickness Behaviors to Integrate Ecological and Translational Research.

Sickness is typically characterized by fever, anorexia, cachexia, and reductions in social, pleasurable, and sexual behaviors. These responses can be displayed at varying intensities both within and among individuals, and the adaptive nature of sickness responses can be demonstrated by the context-dependent nature of their expression. The study of sickness has become an important area of investigation for researchers in a wide range of areas, including psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and ecoimmunology (EI). The general goal of PNI is to identify key interactions among the nervous, endocrine and immune systems and behavior, and how disruptions in these processes might contribute to disease states. EI, in turn, has been established more recently within the perspectives of ecology and evolutionary biology, and is aimed more at understanding natural variation in immune function and sickness responses within a broadly integrative, organismal, and evolutionary context. The goal of this review is to examine the literature on sickness from both basic and biomedical perspectives within PNI and EI and to demonstrate how the integrative study of sickness behavior can serve as an integrating agent to connect ecological and translational approaches to the study of disease. By focusing on a set of specific exemplars, including the energetics of sickness, social context, and environmental influences on sickness, we hope to accomplish the larger goal of developing a common synthetic framework to understand sickness from multiple levels of analysis and varying perspectives across the fields of PNI and EI. By applying this integrative approach to sickness, we will be able to develop a more comprehensive view of sickness as a suite of adaptive responses rather than the simply deleterious consequences of illness.