Multisensory Origin of the Subjective First-Person Perspective: Visual,Tactile, and Vestibular Mechanisms

In three experiments we investigated the effects of visuo-tactile and visuo-vestibular conflict about the direction of gravity on three aspects of bodily self-consciousness: self-identification, self-location, and the experienced direction of the first-person perspective. Robotic visuo-tactile stimulation was administered to 78 participants in three experiments. Additionally, we presented participants with a virtual body as seen from an elevated and downward-directed perspective while they were lying supine and were therefore receiving vestibular and postural cues about an upward-directed perspective. Under these conditions, we studied the effects of different degrees of visuo-vestibular conflict, repeated measurements during illusion induction, and the relationship to a classical measure of visuo-vestibular integration. Extending earlier findings on experimentally induced changes in bodily self-consciousness, we show that self-identification does not depend on the experienced direction of the first-person perspective, whereas self-location does. Changes in bodily self-consciousness depend on visual gravitational signals. Individual differences in the experienced direction of first-person perspective correlated with individual differences in visuo-vestibular integration. Our data reveal important contributions of visuo-vestibular gravitational cues to bodily self-consciousness. In particular we show that the experienced direction of the first-person perspective depends on the integration of visual, vestibular, and tactile signals, as well as on individual differences in idiosyncratic visuo-vestibular strategies.     

The Moderated Relationship of Appearance Valence on Appearance Self Consciousness: Development and Testing of New Measures of Appearance Schema Components

This paper describes the creation and psychometric properties of two independent measures of aspects of appearance schematicity – appearance salience and valence, assessed by the CARSAL and CARVAL, and their relation to appearance self-consciousness. Five hundred and ninety two participants provided data in a web based task. The results demonstrate the sound psychometric properties of both scales. This was demonstrated by good item total characteristics, good internal reliability of each scale, and the independence of the two scales shown through principal components analysis. Furthermore, the scales show independent and moderated relationships with valid measures of appearance related psychosocial distress. Negatively valenced appearance information was associated with increased appearance self-consciousness. More crucially, the impact of negative valence on appearance self-consciousness was exacerbated by the moderating effect increased salience of appearance.     

Keeping in Touch with One's Self: Multisensory Mechanisms of Self-Consciousness

Background

The spatial unity between self and body can be disrupted by employing conflicting visual-somatosensory bodily input, thereby bringing neurological observations on bodily self-consciousness under scientific scrutiny. Here we designed a novel paradigm linking the study of bodily self-consciousness to the spatial representation of visuo-tactile stimuli by measuring crossmodal congruency effects (CCEs) for the full body.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We measured full body CCEs by attaching four vibrator-light pairs to the trunks (backs) of subjects who viewed their bodies from behind via a camera and a head mounted display (HMD). Subjects made speeded elevation (up/down) judgments of the tactile stimuli while ignoring light stimuli. To modulate self-identification for the seen body subjects were stroked on their backs with a stick and the felt stroking was either synchronous or asynchronous with the stroking that could be seen via the HMD.We found that (1) tactile stimuli were mislocalized towards the seen body (2) CCEs were modulated systematically during visual-somatosensory conflict when subjects viewed their body but not when they viewed a body-sized object, i.e. CCEs were larger during synchronous than during asynchronous stroking of the body and (3) these changes in the mapping of tactile stimuli were induced in the same experimental condition in which predictable changes in bodily self-consciousness occurred.

Conclusions/Significance

These data reveal that systematic alterations in the mapping of tactile stimuli occur in a full body illusion and thus establish CCE magnitude as an online performance proxy for subjective changes in global bodily self-consciousness.     

The Self as Social Artifice: Some Consequences of Stanislavski

Practice commonly develops independent of theory: only rarely does some heritable informational structure knowingly emerge. With this in mind, Biosemiotic theory is well served by an informed synthesis with Constantin Stanislavski’s theatrical technique. For it is not enough merely to catalog signage by studying the consequence of its function, we also seek to generate signs with knowing intent. This implies more than the strategic use of signs, which all complex living things do, and of which our many subjective selves emerge. It calls for an objective artifice of signs, that is, some set of techniques competent to produce subjectivity, and capable of being objectified such that it can become a knowable standard. This is precisely what Stanislavski offers, ways of knowingly creating novel, actual, believably generative, signs. Within the realm of human action and in terms of human knowing, he positively exemplifies applied semiotic theory: his approach to dramatizing fictional characters also expresses how self-consciousness comes to be. What Stanislavski implies, Charles Tilly presumes and this essay asserts: our own biotic evolution has been influenced by post-biotic or metaphoric evolution, which results from the ‘living’ interaction of certain classes of non-living things. These derive from the pragmatic a priori made implicit by Chauncey Wright, which is the motivation of living things to act on specific needs within specific situations. The need to breathe is one example; the need to make competent use of existing epistemic structures is another. But such structures have their own needs, and ‘act’ to fill them. When this is compounded culturally, it may result in self-consciousness – a self-constructed artifice of semiosis with great consequence to biotic processes. Tilly supplies evidence that such compounding happens within human society, as well as a theoretical basis for its expression as a semiotic sociology. This essay uses pragmatic semiotics to explore the strong parallels that exist between the deliberately objective motivations upon which science, sanity and self-consciousness all depend, Stanislavski’s practicable artifice of signaling pathways and social emergence, and Tilly’s approach to society as ongoing performance.     

Motifs and Images in a Balinese Ritual Drama: Their Mythic References and ‘Metaphorical Truth’

For insofar as dialectical thinking is thought about thought,… such self-consciousness must be inscribed in the sentence itself. And insofar as dialectical thinking characteristically involves a conjunction of opposites or at least conceptually disparate phenomena, it may be truly said of the dialectical sentence what Surrealists said about the image, namely that its strength increases proportionately as the realities linked are distant and distinct from each other (Jameson 1971: 53–4).     

Sleep Dissolves Illusion: Sleep Withstands Learning of Visuo-Tactile-Proprioceptive Integration Induced by Repeated Days of Rubber Hand Illusion Training

Multisensory integration is a key factor in establishing bodily self-consciousness and in adapting humans to novel environments. The rubber hand illusion paradigm, in which humans can immediately perceive illusory ownership to an artificial hand, is a traditional technique for investigating multisensory integration and the feeling of illusory ownership. However, the long-term learning properties of the rubber hand illusion have not been previously investigated. Moreover, although sleep contributes to various aspects of cognition, including learning and memory, its influence on illusory learning of the artificial hand has not yet been assessed. We determined the effects of daily repetitive training and sleep on learning visuo-tactile-proprioceptive sensory integration and illusory ownership in healthy adult participants by using the traditional rubber hand illusion paradigm. Subjective ownership of the rubber hand, proprioceptive drift, and galvanic skin response were measured to assess learning indexes. Subjective ownership was maintained and proprioceptive drift increased with daily training. Proprioceptive drift, but not subjective ownership, was significantly attenuated after sleep. A significantly greater reduction in galvanic skin response was observed after wakefulness compared to after sleep. Our results suggest that although repetitive rubber hand illusion training facilitates multisensory integration and physiological habituation of a multisensory incongruent environment, sleep corrects illusional integration and habituation based on experiences in a multisensory incongruent environment. These findings may increase our understanding of adaptive neural processes to novel environments, specifically, bodily self-consciousness and sleep-dependent neuroplasticity.     

The interface of natural theology and science in the ethology of W. H. Thorpe

Conclusion It should be clear by now the extent to which many features of Thorpe's interpretation of animal behavior and of the animal mind rested, at bottom, not simply on conventional scientific proofs but on interpretive inferences, which in turn rested on a willingress to make extensions of human experience to animals. This, in turn, rested on his view of evolution and his view of reality. And these were governed by his natural theology, which was the fundamental stratum of his intellectual experience.Contrary to the scientific ethos, which restricts theory choice to scientific issues alone, Thorpe's career suggests that the actual reasons for theory choice among scientists often are not limited to science, but are multiple and may sometimes be difficult to discover. It is largely because Thorpe took a public part in the natural theology enterprise that we can know something about his religious beliefs and so can see their probable influence on his scientific decisions. Similar beliefs of other scientists are sometimes harder to get at. Most may be practically beyond discovery, for the ethos of science has discouraged public professions of personal belief in relation to scientific work.¹⁰¹ Yet does it seem plausible that, for example, the restriction of self-consciousness to humans by some scientists is a purely scientific decision?¹⁰² Surely not, any more than that the strong influence of natural theology on Thorpe's thought means that he was not a good scientist. His natural theology may have led him into incautious enthusiasms regarding the animal mind — such as the potential if unrealizable linguistic ability of chimpanzees — through a bias in favor of the continuity of emergents in a progressive evolutionary system, just as it led him to advocate animal consciousness long before the recent upsurge of interest, but the scientific integrity of his work overall is unimpeachable. And yet, that work is not comprehensible historically as science alone. Personal philosophy must not be discounted in writing the history of recent science. This somewhat obvious conclusion (obvious to historians of science) needs emphasis, for we are still prone to think that the sciences of our own time provide their own internal dynamic that is in itself sufficient to account for their content and development.     

The possible neurophysiological basis of the inner self

Different hypotheses on the nature of the inner self suggested by neurologists, neurophysiologists, and psychophysiologists are discussed, and a new hypothesis is put forward. This hypothesis is based on the structures of neural networks serving as mechanisms for making decisions (the active ego) and networks for introspection, self-control, and self-consciousness (the reflexive ego). The hypotheses are compared with known facts, and their validity is estimated.     

Program oversight enhancements (POE): the big PAM

Federal animal welfare regulations and policies require compliance during animal research. But the methods used to oversee, assess, and ascertain compliance are left in the hands of the research institution and its institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC). Differences in institutional cultures, research goals, individuals responsible for animal care and use activities and oversight, and availability of financial and personnel resources have given rise to a variety of institution-specific mechanisms for ensuring compliance with the federal requirements and specifically with IACUC-approved animal research activities. In recent years one such mechanism, postapproval monitoring (PAM), has risen in popularity. An often cited topic in animal welfare-related conferences and periodicals, it is well on its way to becoming a compliance standard. However, it is but one mechanism for ensuring postapproval compliance and is not required by the federal animal welfare regulations. In this article we describe alternative mechanisms for ensuring compliance with IACUC-approved animal research through the use of program oversight enhancements (POE) in the context of an institution's animal care and use program. We present these enhancements in a way that allows readers to pick and choose those of interest. While these methods may not be feasible at all institutions, adopting even a few should improve a program's ability to ensure compliance with approved animal research and reduce the need for an aggressive and formal postapproval monitoring process.     

Neural Substrates for Judgment of Self-Agency in Ambiguous Situations

The sense of agency is the attribution of oneself as the cause of one’s own actions and their effects. Accurate agency judgments are essential for adaptive behaviors in dynamic environments, especially in conditions of uncertainty. However, it is unclear how agency judgments are made in ambiguous situations where self-agency and non-self-agency are both possible. Agency attribution is thus thought to require higher-order neurocognitive processes that integrate several possibilities. Furthermore, neural activity specific to self-attribution, as compared with non-self-attribution, may reflect higher-order critical operations that contribute to constructions of self-consciousness. Based on these assumptions, the present study focused on agency judgments under ambiguous conditions and examined the neural correlates of this operation with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants performed a simple but demanding agency-judgment task, which required them to report on whether they attributed their own action as the cause of a visual stimulus change. The temporal discrepancy between the participant’s action and the visual events was adaptively set to be maximally ambiguous for each individual on a trial-by-trial basis. Comparison with results for a control condition revealed that the judgment of agency was associated with activity in lateral temporo-parietal areas, medial frontal areas, the dorsolateral prefrontal area, and frontal operculum/insula regions. However, most of these areas did not differentiate between self- and non-self-attribution. Instead, self-attribution was associated with activity in posterior midline areas, including the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that deliberate self-attribution of an external event is principally associated with activity in posterior midline structures, which is imperative for self-consciousness.     

ECVAM: desperately needed or superfluous? An animal welfare perspective

Eurogroup for Animal Welfare is the umbrella organisation of the major animal welfare organisations in Europe. Whereas its long-term goal is the complete replacement of animal experiments by methods that do not involve pain, suffering or distress in animals, it is also committed to any reasonable effort to reduce and refine animal experiments, as long as these continue to be carried out. Eurogroup therefore supports the activities of ECVAM, and it acknowledges the contributions to animal protection in various areas of animal use for scientific purposes made by ECVAM to date. Eurogroup is not satisfied with the number of alternative methods accepted in the past, but it sees the main responsibility for the slow progress as being outside ECVAM. The insufficient involvement of ECVAM by the EU Commission in various issues that would require its competence is also a matter of concern to Eurogroup.     

转基因动物的检测方法

转基因动物的研究目前尚处于实验室研究阶段,获得转基因动物难度大,检测转基因比较困难,从染色体和基因水平、转录、翻译、整体表型等不同角度介绍了转基因动物的不同检测手段和方法,并对各水平存在的问题及应用前景作了阐述。     

几种实验性2型糖尿病动物模型制备方法的比较

2型糖尿病是一种严重影响人类健康的内分泌代谢性疾病,其患病人数多,病程缓慢。动物模型在2型糖尿病研究中发挥了重要作用,其中实验性动物模型因其价格便宜,易于诱导和维持而被广泛应用。本文对几种常见的2型糖尿病动物模型的建立方法进行综述和评价。     

Optimization of brownian search strategies

What are the simplest search strategies that lead an animal to a particular target, what are their limitations, and what changes can be made to develop more effective strategies? To answer these question a class of search strategies was examined that require an animal to have only a minimal capacity for spatial orientation; the effectiveness of such strategies in solving the following basic search problem was determined. The animal begins its search at a distance r _o (starting distance) from a spatially fixed target. It detects the target when it has approached it to within a certain distance a (the detection radius). The analysed class of search strategies has the following characteristics: C1. The animal uses the same search strategy in all regions it enters. Therefore it needs no information as to the actual location of the target. C2. Its search strategy is constant in time. The animal has only to detect whether it has reached the target or not. C3. Once the animal has chosen a direction, it continues in that direction for a certain distance. This is the only way in which the preceding parts of the search affect the animal's decision as to the direction in which it will search next. In the long term the animal's movement directions are independent, with no preference for any particular direction. Despite their extreme simplicity in application these “Brownian” search strategies are remarkably successful (Fig. 1). Indeed, if the search is continued long enough the target is certain to be found. The success of the search depends in part on the search duration (Fig. 2) or the search-path length S, the starting distance and the detection radius. On the other hand, an animal can have a decisive influence on its degree of success simply by adjusting the frequency with which it changes its walking direction to match its sensory abilities. That is, a not-too-short Brownian search (S?r _o) is most successful when the searching animal, between the points at which it changes direction, walks approximately straight for a distance equal to the detection radius (Figs. 3 and 4). A further increase in search effectiveness is possible only by turning to another class of search strategies. These, however, demand that the animal either have more information about the position of its target at the beginning of the search or be able to organize its search behavior even over fairly long periods of time.     

病毒性肝炎树鼩动物模型研究与建模策略

病毒性肝炎是由肝炎病毒引起的肝脏疾病。在我国,病毒性肝炎高度流行,其中又以乙型肝炎病毒(Hepatitis B virus,HBV)和丙型肝炎病毒(Hepatitis C virus,HCV)危害较大。动物模型是研究疾病感染与发病机制,进行药物与疫苗研究的必要工具。目前病毒性肝炎实验动物模型的研究已取得长足的发展,主要集中于病毒在动物体内的感染特性及发病规律方面。本文仅就病毒性肝炎动物模型,尤其乙型、丙型肝炎树鼩动物模型的研究及建模策略进行综述。     

Successful Treatment of Severe Tungiasis in Pigs Using a Topical Aerosol Containing Chlorfenvinphos,Dichlorphos and Gentian Violet

BackgroundIn endemic communities, zoonotic tungiasis, a severe skin disease caused by penetrating female sand fleas, is a public health hazard causing significant human and animal morbidity. No validated drugs are currently available for treatment of animal tungiasis. Due to the reservoir in domestic animals, integrated management of human and animal tungiasis is required to avert its negative effects.ConclusionsThe study demonstrates that a topical treatment based on chlorfenvinphos, dichlorphos and gentian violet is highly effective against pig tungiasis. Due to its simplicity, the new approach can be used for the treatment of individual animals as well as in mass campaigns.     

A new method for aesthetic reduction of labia minora (the deepithelialized reduction of labioplasty)

An enlarged labium minus can be bothersome for functional, aesthetic, and social reasons. Labia minora hypertrophy can be congenital or acquired by chronic irritation, exogenous androgenic hormones, or stretching with weights. This can cause inflammation, poor hygiene, interference with sexual intercourse, or intermittent urinary self-catheterization in myelodysplastic women. Aesthetically, an asymmetric or enlarged labium minus causes self-consciousness sexually and when the subject wears tight pants. Previously, labia minora reduction was performed by amputation of the protuberant segment and oversewing the edge, or a wedge of protuberant labial tissue was excised and reapproximated. However, the former technique removes the natural contour and color of the edge of the labium minus, and the latter can result in an incomplete or tight reduction. Therefore, rather than an amputation or a wedge resection, we preserved the natural contour and anatomy of the labium minus by simply reducing its central width through bilateral deepithelialization and reapproximation of the central portion with preservation of the neurovascular supply to the edge. Six patients have undergone this reduction method with excellent results without specific complications.     

An updated review of the toxicology and ecotoxicology of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) in relation to its use as a pest control tool in New?Zealand

Sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is a vertebrate pesticide, originally developed in the 1940s and principally used for the control of unwanted introduced animals in New?Zealand and Australia. Fluoroacetate is also a toxic component of poisonous plants found in Australia, Africa, South America, and India. In relation to its use as a pesticide, recent research has focused on further elucidation of its potential sub-lethal effects, on animal welfare issues, on understanding and reducing its risk to non-target species, on its ecotoxicology, and fate in the environment following use in baits. 1080 acts by interfering with cellular energy production through inhibition of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and lethal doses can kill animal pests within 6?48 h of eating baits. Exposure to sub-lethal doses has been shown to have harmful effects on the heart and testes in animal studies, and strict safety precautions are enforced to protect contractors and workers in the pest control industry. Considerable care must be taken when using 1080 for the control of animal pests. Primary poisoning of non-target birds and secondary poisoning of dogs must be minimised to ensure that benefits in terms of conservation outcomes and pest and disease control significantly outweigh the risks associated with its use. Despite over 60 years of research and practical experience, the use of 1080 is still embroiled in controversy, while research efforts continue to improve its target specificity when it is used as a conservation tool or for Tb vector control.     

Comparison of Sirius red and Congo red as stains for amyloid in animal tissues.

Sirius red and Congo red were compared for specificity and sensitivity of amyloid staining in animal and human material. Previously described advantages of Sirius red as an amyloid dye were confirmed, as well as its disadvantage of lack of ultraviolet fluorescence. Two further disadvantages of Sirius red were discovered, both relating to animal material: (a) its unexpectedly weak staining of early experimentally induced amyloid deposits and (b) frequent uncontrollable nonspecific staining of fibrous tissues. It is therefore concluded that, overall, Congo red used by the improved alkaline technique of Puchtler, Sweat and Levine (1962) remains the best single method for demonstration of amyloid in both human and animal tissues.