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Books on the topic 'Brain capacity'

Author: Grafiati

Published: 25 June 2021

Last updated: 17 February 2022

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1

United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa, International Development Research Centre (Canada), and International Organization for Migration, eds. Brain drain and capacity building in Africa: Exode des compétences et développment des capacités en Afrique. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2000.

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2

Brain dancing: And the solutions approach to capacity enhancement. Bellevue, Wash: Magee Research, 1996.

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3

Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building in Africa (2000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). Report of the Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building in Africa. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: United Nations, Economic and Social Council, Economic Commission for Africa, 2000.

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4

Marshack, Alexander. Hierarchical evolution of the human capacity: The paleolithic evidence. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1985.

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5

Marshack, Alexander. Hierarchical evolution of the human capacity: The paleolithic evidence. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1985.

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6

Tattersall, Ian. The origin of the human capacity. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1998.

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7

Tattersall, Ian. The origin of the human capacity. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1998.

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8

Implementation of the requirement to provide a medical examination before separating members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the capacity of the Department of Defense to provide care to PTSD cases: Hearing before the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, second session, hearing held, April 20, 2010. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 2010.

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9

Wise, Matt, and Paul Frost. Brain death. Edited by Patrick Davey and David Sprigings. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199568741.003.0154.

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Mechanical ventilation has made it possible for the heart to continue to beat and perfuse other organs even when the brain is dead. This means that death can be diagnosed in two distinct ways: first, in the traditional manner, as permanent cessation of cardiorespiratory function; and, second, while the patient is ventilated, as brain death (BD). In 1976 the Conference of Medical Royal Colleges and their Faculties in the United Kingdom, in a statement on the diagnosis of BD, recognized the brainstem as the centre of brain activity, without which life was not possible. Brainstem death (BSD) occurs when there is complete, irreversible loss of brainstem function, that is, irreversible loss of the capacity for consciousness, coupled with irreversible loss of the capacity to breathe. In the UK, the terms BD and BSD are used interchangeably and are legally synonymous with somatic death. This chapter covers examination for BSD, complications, diagnosis, investigation, and actions arising after BSD, as well as a definition of BD.

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10

Beyond Smarter Mediated Learning And The Brains Capacity For Change. Teachers College Press, 2010.

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11

Friederici, Angela D., and Noam Chomsky. Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. MIT Press, 2017.

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12

Friederici, Angela D., and Noam Chomsky. Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. MIT Press, 2017.

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13

Friederici, Angela D., and Noam Chomsky. Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. MIT Press, 2017.

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14

Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity. The MIT Press, 2017.

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15

1927-, Kwapong Alexander A., Lesser Barry 1947-, and Lester Pearson Institute for International Development., eds. Capacity building and human resource development in Africa. Halifax, N.S: Lester Pearson Institute for International Development, Dalhousie University, 1990.

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16

Anderson, James A. Brain Theory. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199357789.003.0012.

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What form would a brain theory take? Would it be short and punchy, like Maxwell’s Equations? Or with a clear goal but achieved by a community of mechanisms—local theories—to attain that goal, like the US Tax Code. The best developed recent brain-like model is the “neural network.” In the late 1950s Rosenblatt’s Perceptron and many variants proposed a brain-inspired associative network. Problems with the first generation of neural networks—limited capacity, opaque learning, and inaccuracy—have been largely overcome. In 2016, a program from Google, AlphaGo, based on a neural net using deep learning, defeated the world’s best Go player. The climax of this chapter is a fictional example starring Sherlock Holmes demonstrating that complex associative computation in practice has less in common with accurate pattern recognition and more with abstract high-level conceptual inference.

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17

Tononi, Giulio, and Marcello Massimini. Sizing Up Consciousness: Towards an Objective Measure of the Capacity for Experience. Oxford University Press, 2018.

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18

Brain Fog: Solve the mysteries of decreased mental capacity and keep your brain fit and functional throughout your life. iUniverse, Inc., 2005.

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19

Brainpower: Practical ways to boost your memory, creativity and thinking capacity. Barnes & Noble Books, 2002.

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20

Brain-Boosting Foods: 50 Ways to Improve Your Memory, Unclutter Your Mind, and Get Your Brain Working at Its Highest Capacity by Eating Righ. Siloam Press, 2008.

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21

Boraud, Thomas. How the Brain Makes Decisions. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824367.001.0001.

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The human decision-making process is tainted with irrationality. To address this issue, this book proposes a ‘bottom-up’ approach of the neural substrate of decision-making, starting from the fundamental question: What are the basic properties that a neural network of decision-making needs to possess? Combining data drawn from phylogeny and physiology, this book provides a general framework of the neurobiology of decision-making in vertebrates and explains how it evolved from the lamprey to the apes. It also addresses the consequences, examining how it impacts our capacity of reasoning and some aspects of the pathophysiology of high brain functions. To conclude, the text opens discussion to more philosophical concepts such as the question of free will.

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22

Raz, Amir, and Sheida Rabipour. How (not) to train the brain. Oxford University Press, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780198789673.001.0001.

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How (Not) to Train the Brain offers a scientifically honest account of brain training. It demolishes unfounded claims often made for brain training programs, offering instead useful, proven, methods for improving mental performance and capacity. It reviews the apps, books, and other products that have emerged in recent years claiming to boost cognitive power and focus emotion, destroying well-established myths and misconceptions about the brain. It offers alternative, easily implementable techniques, including a list of commercially available products that readers may wish to consider. This title includes interviews with leading experts and practitioners working with different brain training and mental optimization approaches. These interviews provide unique insights into the foundations and development of brain training techniques.

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23

Patisaul, Heather B., and Scott M. Belcher. Endocrine Disruptors, Brain, and Behavior. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199935734.001.0001.

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Hormones play a foundational role in the sex-specific organization of the brain and, consequently, the complex behaviors they coordinate. Our world and bodies are becoming increasingly polluted with chemicals capable of interfering with hormone action and thus, possibly, our neural and mental health. If and how these endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) affect the development and function of the brain, and may be contributing to neural disorders that are rapidly rising in prevalence, are the central concerns of this book. This work also examines why even the concept of endocrine disruption is controversial in some circles; how differing definitions of endocrine disruption and “adverse” outcomes shape public policy; and where the current capacity to evaluate chemicals for safety in a regulatory context begins and ends. Fundamental concepts of the EDC hypothesis, including critical windows of exposure and sexually dimorphic effects, are explained. A historical perspective on how the endocrine disruption hypothesis emerged and a summary of how and to what degree prototypical EDCs affect human brain health are provided as a prelude to a critical evaluation of the evidence linking EDC exposures to human neurobehavioral disorders. The book concludes with suggestions for future research needs and a summary of emerging technology that might prove more capable of effectively evaluating existing and new chemicals for endocrine-disrupting properties. The impossibility of disentangling the “science” of EDC action on the brain and behavior from its public health policy implications and economic influence is comprehensively addressed throughout.

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24

Schechter, Elizabeth. Self and Other in the Split-Brain Subject. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198809654.003.0007.

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This chapter concerns self-consciousness in split-brain subjects. I argue, first, that R and L are both capable of thinking I-thoughts: thoughts containing the mental or conceptual analogue of the English word “I.” On the other hand, R’s and L’s self-consciousness differs, in its operative dynamics, from self-consciousness in, say, my sister and me. First of all, neither R nor L recognizes the existence of a second thinker sharing its body. I call this lack of mutual recognition. Second, L seems to assume that its I-thoughts refer to S, and R seems to assume the same of its I-thoughts. I call this (subjective) co-identification as S. I then argue that lack of mutual recognition and co-identification as S are explained by the fact that R and L lack the capacity for self-distinction: neither can first-personally distinguish itself from the other.

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25

Tse, Peter U. Two Types of Libertarian Free Will Are Realized in the Human Brain. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190460723.003.0010.

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In Chapter 10, Peter U. Tse describes various developments in neuroscience that reveal how volitional mental events can be causal within a physicalist paradigm and argues that two types of libertarian free will are realized in the human brain. He takes as his foundation a new understanding of the neural code that emphasizes rapid synaptic resetting over the traditional emphasis of neural spiking. Such a neural code is an instance of “criterial causation,” which requires modifying standard interventionist conceptions of causation. This new view of the neural code, Tse argues, also provides a way out of self-causation arguments against the possibility of mental causation. Finally, Tse maintains that only if there is a second-order free will or meta-free will—do brains have the capacity to both have chosen otherwise and to have meta-chosen otherwise.

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26

Dening, Tom, and Alan Thomas, eds. Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry. Oxford University Press, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199644957.001.0001.

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Taking a global approach by highlighting both the common burdens and the differences in management from country to country, The Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry, Second Edition includes information on all the latest improvements and changes in the field. New chapters are included to reflect the development of old age care; covering palliative care, the ethics of caring, and living and dying with dementia. Existing chapters have also been revised and updated throughout and additional information is included on brain stimulation therapies, memory clinics and services, and capacity, which now includes all mental capacity and decision making.

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27

Hatfield, Anthea. Respiratory physiology. Oxford University Press, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199666041.003.0015.

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Breathing and normal respiration must be understood by recovery room staff. This chapter explains how patients breathe and what is happening when patterns of respiration alter. Terms that sound complicated, like functional residual capacity, are explained and the way in which breathing is driven from the brain and by chemoreceptors in the lungs is simply described.

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28

Schechter, Elizabeth. Dual Intentional Agency. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198809654.003.0003.

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This chapter defends the 2-agents claim, according to which the two hemispheres of a split-brain subject are associated with distinct intentional agents. The empirical basis of this claim is that, while both hemispheres are the source or site of intentions, the capacity to integrate them in practical reasoning no longer operates interhemispherically after split-brain surgery. As a result, the right hemisphere-associated agent, R, and the left hemisphere-associated agent, L, enjoy intentional autonomy from each other. Although the positive case for the 2-agents claim is grounded mainly in experimental findings, the claim is not contradicted by what we know of split-brain subjects’ ordinary behavior, that is, the way they act outside of experimental conditions.

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29

Fins, Joseph J., and Barbara Pohl. Neuro-palliative care and disorders of consciousness. Oxford University Press, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199656097.003.0103.

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Neuro-palliative care is an important resource for patients and families confronting severe brain injury. Although many clinicians equate brain injury with certain death or futility, survivors have substantial needs that might be met by palliative care expertise. This chapter suggests that the boundaries of palliative medicine include those with severe brain injury, most notably those in the minimally conscious state, and that with this nosological expansion practitioners of palliative care reflect carefully on often nihilistic attitudes directed towards patients with disorders of consciousness. This chapter establishes how to better meet the needs of these patients and their surrogates, reviewing definitional criteria for the vegetative and minimally conscious states, highlighting advances in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (such as neuroimaging, drugs, and deep brain stimulation) and considering what neuroprosthetic devices tell us of the capacity of patients to experience-and functionally communicate-pain, distress, and suffering.

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30

Granacher, Robert P. Neuropsychiatric Aspects Involving the Elderly and the Law. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199374656.003.0002.

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Neuropsychiatry has generally been concerned with the diagnosis and management of syndromes with productive symptoms (positive symptoms) such as hallucinations, mood changes, and delusions. This chapter focuses on the brain-based forensic issues before the law concerning the neuropsychiatry of the older patient. These include the forensic infinitives of legal cognitive capacity to be competent to be tried, enter a plea, be a witness, consent generally, enter a contract, make a will, resist undue influence, refuse treatment, give informed consent, have general competence, have specific competence, be fit for duty, be criminally responsible, be civilly committable, and resist elder abuse. Fundamentally, the forensic neuropsychiatric question is: does a brain disorder remove the individual capacity to understand, decide or act in a specific circumstance before the law? Thus, a well-planned forensic assessment of a geriatric person usually requires a neuromedical psychiatric examination model. This may include examinations, laboratory testing, structural neuroimaging, cognitive screening, and neuropsychological testing. It also may involve lumbar puncture functional neuroimaging and other neurodiagnostic testing.

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31

Massimini, Marcello, and Giulio Tononi. Sizing up Consciousness. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198728443.001.0001.

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Sizing up Consciousness explores, at an introductory level, the potential practical, clinical, and ethical implications of a general principle about the nature of consciousness. Using information integration theory (IIT) as a guiding principle, the book takes the reader along a scientific trajectory to face fundamental questions about the relationships between matter and experience. What is so special about a piece of flesh that can host a subject who sees light or experiences darkness? Why is the brain associated with a capacity for consciousness, but not the liver or the heart, as previous cultures believed? Why the thalamocortical system, but not other complicated neural structures? Why does consciousness fade during deep sleep, while cortical neurons remain active? Why does it recover, vivid, and intense, when the brain is disconnected from the external world during a dream? Can unresponsive patients with a functional island of cortex surrounded by widespread damage be conscious? Is a parrot that talks, or an octopus that learns and plays conscious? Can computers be conscious? Could a system behave like us and yet be devoid of consciousness—a zombie? The authors take on these basic questions by translating theoretical principles into anatomical observations, novel empirical measurements—such as an index of brain complexity that can be applied at the bedside of brain-injured patients—and thought experiments. The aim of the book is to describe, in an accessible way, a preliminary attempt to identify a general rule to size up the capacity for consciousness within the human skull and beyond.

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32

Nagel, Jennifer. 8. Knowing about knowing. Oxford University Press, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199661268.003.0008.

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Mindreading is the natural capacity that generates instinctive feelings about another person's knowledge and other mental states. ‘Knowing about knowing’ explains that humans have specialized brain areas devoted to tracking mental states, but there are natural limitations to mindreading. One is a simple capacity limit on how many nested mental state levels we can represent. Another deeper limitation is that we suffer from ‘egocentrism’, which makes it difficult for us to override our own perspective when evaluating others who know less about their situation than we do. It concludes that even if we still don’t know the full nature of what knowledge is, we are in a better position to make progress on this ancient question.

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33

Owen, Gareth, Sir Simon Wessely, and Sir Simon Wessely, eds. Mental health law. Oxford University Press, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199661701.003.0010.

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This chapter gives an overview of mental health law. Whilst focusing on the legal specifics in England and Wales, the underlying ethical issues extend to all jurisdictions. It explains the duties that law places on health systems and clinicians to support patients to make decisions about their own health. However, it also explains the legal frameworks in place for children and people with mental illness, brain injuries, learning disabilities, dementia, or personality disorder who may require clinicians to decide their health care. Basic concepts of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the Children Act 1989 are described, and parts of the law that psychiatrists need to know are presented concisely and in psychiatric context. The chapter includes a practical approach to mental capacity assessment.

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34

Burton, Derek, and Margaret Burton. Perception and sensation. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198785552.003.0012.

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Major features of tetrapod sensory structures are well developed in fish which also have lateral lines, and some have electroreceptors and possibly magnetoreceptors. Receptors may be categorized according to the type of stimulus to which they respond: photoreceptors, chemoreceptors, mechanoreceptors, temperature receptors and nociceptors. Adaptations to aquatic habitats are described for examples from each category. Each type of receptor has the capacity to transduce (transform) its specific sensory stimulus into receptor potentials which initiate or modulate activity in sensory neurons to the brain. Although each type of receptor responds to a specific stimulus type, this is not an attribute of the nerve impulses generated, recognition of stimulus type depending on the area of the brain receiving the neural input. However, variations in stimulus intensity are recognized as change in input impulse frequency.

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35

Mundy, Peter. A Neural Networks, Information-Processing Model of Joint Attention and Social-Cognitive Development. Edited by Philip David Zelazo. Oxford University Press, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199958474.013.0010.

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A neural networks approach to the development of joint attention can inform the study of the nature of human social cognition, learning, and symbolic thought process. Joint attention development involves increments in the capacity to engage in simultaneous or parallel processing of information about one’s own attention and the attention of other people. Infant practice with joint attention is both a consequence and an organizer of a distributed and integrated brain network involving frontal and parietal cortical systems. In this chapter I discuss two hypotheses that stem from this model. One is that activation of this distributed network during coordinated attention enhances the depth of information processing and encoding beginning in the first year of life. I also propose that with development joint attention becomes internalized as the capacity to socially coordinate mental attention to internal representations. As this occurs the executive joint attention network makes vital contributions to the development of human social cognition and symbolic thinking.

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36

Gluckman, Sir Peter, Mark Hanson, Chong Yap Seng, and Anne Bardsley. Iodine in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Oxford University Press, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198722700.003.0019.

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Iodine is a key component of thyroid hormones. Development of the fetal brain and nervous system are dependent on thyroid hormones supplied by the mother via the placenta, increasing the maternal demand for iodine throughout pregnancy. Women with adequate iodine intake before conception (~150 #amp;#x03BC;g/day) can adapt to the increased demand for thyroid hormones during pregnancy, because the thyroid gland adjusts its hormonal output; but this depends on sufficient availability of dietary iodine and the integrity of the thyroid gland. Iodine deficiency causes congenital hypothyroidism, and in severe form, the irreversible brain damage associated with cretinism. Moderate iodine deficiency in pregnancy is associated with lower learning capacity, reduced IQ, hearing impairment, and increased risk of attention deficit disorder. Pregnant women should take a daily multivitamin that contains 150 #amp;#x00B5;g of iodine, unless they regularly consume concentrated food sources of iodine.

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37

Stevens, Robert D., and Joshua Kornbluth. Causes and diagnosis of unconsciousness. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199600830.003.0228.

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Changes in consciousness are seen in a range of physiological and pathological settings including sleep, anaesthesia, brain lesions, metabolic disturbances, and complex partial or generalized seizures. In neurobiological terms, consciousness may be viewed as having an arousal dimension and an awareness dimension phenotypically expressed as the capacity to respond to self or environmental stimuli. Loss of consciousness is associated with lesions that disrupt neuronal systems in the brainstem and diencephalon that mediate arousal or thalamocortical or corticocortical systems that mediate awareness. As there are many causes of unconsciousness, a timely and focused history and neurologic examination are critical to defining the differential diagnosis.

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38

Moreno, Jonathan D., Michael N. Tennison, and James Giordano. Security threat versus aggregated truths: Ethical issues in the use of neuroscience and neurotechnology for national security. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198786832.003.0027.

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This chapter explores uses of brain science for purposes of national security intelligence and defense, discusses the neuroethical issues that these approaches foster, and posits ways that such ethical concerns can be addressed. The chapter begins with a historical overview of military attempts to employ the tools and techniques of brain and cognitive science, and illustrates ethical problems generated by these attempts. It then focuses on the ways that ethical systems and approaches might be utilized or limited in neuroscience and neurotechnology for military and security operations. With recognition of the global trends and the power dynamics that such scientific capacity can yield, the chapter emphasizes the importance of neuroethical preparedness and provides a novel paradigm for neuroethical risk assessment and mitigation. The authors of this chapter offer their insights through their perspectives as American scholars engaged not only in American issues, but as scholars engaged through collaboration and cooperation on the global stage.

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39

Massimini, Marcello, and Giulio Tononi. Inferring Consciousness Out There. Translated by Frances Anderson. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198728443.003.0008.

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This chapter describes a preliminary exploration in search of criteria for consciousness in the biological and physical world beyond the human skull, including dolphins, octopuses, parrots, bees, and computers. It argues that assessing the complexity of behavior and measuring the size of the brain may not provide a reliable estimate in animals. Likewise, it explains why some artificial systems, such as such as feed-forward deep learning networks, that are composed by many elements and that perform incredible feats, may not be conscious. Finally, it suggests that in the future precise empirical measurements of information integration may offer a valid tool to infer on the capacity of consciousness in non-human entities.

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40

O'Callaghan, Claire, and Muireann Irish. Candidate Mechanisms of Spontaneous Cognition as Revealed by Dementia Syndromes. Edited by Kalina Christoff and Kieran C. R. Fox. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464745.013.6.

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The capacity to engage in spontaneous self-generated thought is fundamental to the human experience, yet surprisingly little is known regarding the neurocognitive mechanisms that support this complex ability. Dementia syndromes offer a unique opportunity to study how the breakdown of large-scale functional brain networks impacts spontaneous cognition. Indeed, many of the characteristic cognitive changes in dementia reflect the breakdown of foundational processes essential for discrete aspects of self-generated thought. This chapter discusses how disease-specific alterations in memory-based/construction and mentalizing processes likely disrupt specific aspects of spontaneous, self-generated thought. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive overview of the neurocognitive architecture of spontaneous cognition, paying specific attention to how this sophisticated endeavor is compromised in dementia.

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41

de Zubicaray, Greig I., and Niels O. Schiller, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Neurolinguistics. Oxford University Press, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190672027.001.0001.

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Neurolinguistics is a young and highly interdisciplinary field, with influences from psycholinguistics, psychology, aphasiology, (cognitive) neuroscience, and many more. The scope and aim of this new Oxford Handbook of Neurolinguistics is to provide students and scholars with concise overviews of the state of the art in particular topic areas, and to engage a broad audience with an interest in the neurobiology of language. The chapters do not attempt to provide exhaustive coverage, but rather present discussions of prominent questions posed by a given topic. Part I covers the key techniques and technologies used to study the neurobiology of language today. Part II addresses the neurobiology of language acquisition during healthy development and in response to challenges presented by congenital and acquired conditions. Part III covers the many facets of the articulate brain, and its capacity for language production: written, spoken, and signed. Questions regarding how the brain comprehends meaning, including emotions, at word and discourse levels are addressed in Part IV. The final Part V reaches into broader territory, characterizing and contextualizing the neurobiology of language with respect to more fundamental neuroanatomical mechanisms and general cognitive domains.

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42

Anderson, James A. An Engineer’s Introduction to Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199357789.003.0006.

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When building something, it is essential to know the hardware. This chapter contains key things to know about the active components of the brain: nerve cells (aka neurons). Neurons have severe performance limitations. Problems include high energy consumption, mechanical and physiological sensitivity, unreliability, limited connectivity, and difficulty in wiring neurons together. Neurons are at least a million times slower to “compute” than a modern electronic device. This slow speed cannot be avoided because the neuron has to deal with high electrical capacity and resistance and slow conduction times to move information from neuron to neuron. A specialization called the action potential serves as a long-distance communications mechanism. However, the neuron also has major virtues including the ability to integrate, communicate, and process information from multiple sources, and it acts like a tiny electrochemical analog computer.

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43

Burton, Derek, and Margaret Burton. Gas exchange. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198785552.003.0006.

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Oxygen intake for respiration, also carbon dioxide and, generally, ammonia elimination takes place across gas-exchange surfaces, usually the gills in fish. Water flows across gills, separated by the pharyngeal gill clefts, and supported by gill arches, and which possess highly folded surfaces covered by a very thin epithelium. Blood flow and water flow are separated only by the epithelium with a ‘countercurrent’ gas exchange between the two. A respiratory centre in the hind-brain is a respiratory rhythm pacemaker for the oral and pharyngeal ventilation movements creating water flow across the gills, although ‘ram ventilation’ occurs without such movements. The oxygen and carbon dioxide-carrying capacity of blood is increased considerably by temporary attachment to haemoglobin pigment in the erythrocytes. Some fish are air breathing, using lungs, swim bladder, skin or lips for gaseous exchange. Hypoxia, hypercapnia, supersaturation and high water temperatures present problems for fish respiration, which are discussed.

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44

Troisi, Alfonso. Pleasure. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199393404.003.0002.

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Contemporary neurobiological research has greatly improved our understanding of brain mechanisms that regulate hedonic response and the environmental stimuli that trigger physical and mental pleasure. However, to explain what purpose pleasure serves, we need to look at the problem from the perspective of evolutionary biology. Focusing on a specific type of pleasure, sexual pleasure, this chapter introduces several evolutionary studies that show how the variation in pleasurable experiences becomes understandable when hedonic capacity is viewed as an inner navigator that evolved to guide individuals toward the most adaptive behavioral choices. As a case in point, the alternative hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the evolution of female orgasm (the adaptive versus the byproduct hypothesis) are discussed. The findings of recent studies exploring the complexity of human sexual response and the striking sex differences that distinguish male and female responses to sexual stimuli are also presented.

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45

Baumeister, Roy F. Free Will and the Human Essence. Edited by Martijn van Zomeren and John F. Dovidio. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190247577.013.3.

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This chapter examines free will as a distinctive element of the human essence, arguing that it evolved to enable the development of culture and that culture requires “responsible autonomy”—personal choices for actions that balance the achievement of individual objectives and control with respect for the rules of society. Understanding the human essence as produced by evolution to facilitate culture provides a useful context for understanding free will. The chapter shows that the evolution of free will partly depended on finding a way for the brain to use some of the body’s energy in order to permit advanced and complex psychological processes, including self-control and rational choice. It also considers the incorporation of meaning into the causation of behavior and how meaning is expressed in language. Finally, it explores some uses of self-control in morality and how self-control capacity relates to ego-depletion effects as well as the conservation of willpower.

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Troisi, Alfonso. Detachment. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199393404.003.0003.

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Most of us find social encounters rewarding, especially when we encounter those with whom we are familiar and have built up a relationship. From an evolutionary point of view, this is not surprising; human beings are fundamentally social organisms, and human development and functioning occur within a social context. The origin of individual differences in the capacity to experience social reward is likely to involve a complex interplay of genetic and environmental variables, including genetic variation, early experience and current situational factors. A few individuals seem to lie at the lower extreme of this continuum, experiencing little or no positive feelings during affiliative interactions. This chapter deals with the psychological and behavioral traits that characterize these uncommon individuals and reviews the mechanisms likely to cause their emotional detachment. The chapter then discusses the importance of aversive early experience in promoting an avoidant style of adult attachment and the role of the brain opioid system and genetic polymorphisms in mediating diminished hedonic response to affiliative interactions.

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Troisi, Alfonso. Deception. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199393404.003.0006.

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For a long time, biological studies of communication have been based on the postulate that communication has evolved to ensure the transmission of veridical information between conspecifics. Ethological studies of a variety of animal species have demonstrated that transmission of false information is a relevant component of intraspecific signals and that the adaptive benefit of deceiving others was a driving force in the evolution of communication. In primate species, evolving a larger neocortex was a viable evolutionary strategy to respond to environmental challenges that demand enhanced capacities of social manipulation. Among all animal species, humans are the masters of social deception. This chapter focuses on the cognitive abilities related to voluntary deception in humans, with special regard to the role of theory of mind (i.e. the capacity to infer the mental states of other individuals). Different aspects of theory of mind are discussed, including the evolution of social brain, the distinction between mentalizing and empathizing, and the abnormalities of social cognition in clinical syndromes such as autistic spectrum disorders and primary psychopathy.

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Hough, Catherine L. Chronic critical illness. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199600830.003.0377.

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Chronic critical illness (CCI) is common and describes a state of prolonged critical illness, in which patients have persisting organ failures requiring treatment in an intensive care setting. There are many different definitions of CCI, with most including prolonged (> 96 hours) mechanical ventilation. Advanced age, higher severity of illness, and poor functional status prior to critical illness are all important risk factors, but prediction of CCI is imperfect. Although requirement for mechanical ventilation is the hallmark, CCI encompasses much more than the respiratory system, with effects on metabolism, skin, brain, and neuromuscular function. During CCI, patients have a high burden of symptoms and impaired capacity to communicate their needs. Mortality and quality of life are generally poor, but highly variable, with 1-year mortality over 50% and most survivors suffering permanent cognitive impairment and functional dependence. Patients at highest and lowest risk for mortality can be identified using a simple prediction rule. Caring for the chronically critically ill is a substantial burden both to patients’ families and to the health care system as a whole. Further research is needed in order to improve care and outcomes for CCI patients and their families.

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Guillery, Ray. Interacting with the world. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198806738.003.0012.

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In this chapter, the extent to which actions and perceptions depend on each other is explored particularly for the visual system. Viewing the world through a mirror or a lens that displaces or inverts images provides examples of our ability to learn new sensorimotor consistencies. The use of sensory prostheses that replace one sensory modality with another, for example, visual by tactile stimuli or vestibular by tactile stimuli, provides examples of the capacity of our brains to learn about new sensorimotor relationships, often with surprising rapidity, even in an adult.

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Eldridge, Alice. Reflection. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199351411.003.0011.

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I see music as a very human means of creating, exploring and communicating abstract ideas and emotions. I believe this is made possible through the capacity of organized sound to recruit and coordinate dynamic patterns of interaction across a network of diverse objects and processes distributed across the brains, bodies and worldly objects of musicians and listeners. Reflecting my personal practice as an improvising cellist and my academic interest in digital music, I offer a particular account of some of the roles shape plays in framing and supporting these processes in both acoustic and digital music-making. My own experiences are accompanied by those of other improvisers...

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