Explanation n°2 on data compression algorithms used for digital streams, photos, audio, video etc… etc…
Just follow me, and I will link for you the specific sciences that you should consider to understand the problem. I’m going to use Wikipedia, to give you an idea of the basic concepts, linking articles in a linear explanation. This kind of search, is the one you should adopt to investigate, study and understand topics that your curiosity would like to comprehend, seen from different points of view at the same time. This procedure creates a multiversal conscience, and gives the searcher the opportunity to surf upon the waves”. Spider gram method. Follow me now…
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use.
Compression is useful because it helps reduce the consumption of expensive resources, such as hard disk space or transmission bandwidth. On the downside, compressed data must be decompressed to be used, and this extra processing may be detrimental to some applications. For instance, a compression scheme for video may require expensive hardware for the video to be decompressed fast enough to be viewed as it is being decompressed (the option of decompressing the video in full before watching it may be inconvenient, and requires storage space for the decompressed video). The design of data compression schemes therefore involves trade-offs among various factors, including the degree of compression, the amount of distortion introduced (if using a lossy compression scheme), and the computational resources required to compress and uncompress the data.
Lossless compression algorithms usually exploit statistical redundancy in such a way as to represent the sender’s data more concisely without error. Lossless compression is possible because most real-world data has statistical redundancy. For example, in English text, the letter ‘e’ is much more common than the letter ‘z’, and the probability that the letter ‘q’ will be followed by the letter ‘z’ is very small. Another kind of compression, called lossy data compression or perceptual coding, is possible if some loss of fidelity is acceptable. Generally, a lossy data compression will be guided by research on how people perceive the data in question. For example, the human eye is more sensitive to subtle variations in luminance than it is to variations in color. JPEG image compression works in part by “rounding off” some of this less-important information. Lossy data compression provides a way to obtain the best fidelity for a given amount of compression.
Lossy
Lossy image compression is used in digital cameras, to increase storage capacities with minimal degradation of picture quality. Similarly, DVDs use the lossy MPEG-2 Video codec for video compression.
In lossy audio compression, methods of psychoacoustics are used to remove non-audible (or less audible) components of the signal. Compression of human speech is often performed with even more specialized techniques, so that “speech compression” or “voice coding” is sometimes distinguished as a separate discipline from “audio compression”. Different audio and speech compression standards are listed under audio codecs. Voice compression is used in Internet telephony for example, while audio compression is used for CD ripping and is decoded by audio players.
Lossless
The Lempel–Ziv (LZ) compression methods are among the most popular algorithms for lossless storage. DEFLATE is a variation on LZ which is optimized for decompression speed and compression ratio, but compression can be slow. DEFLATE is used in PKZIP, gzip and PNG. LZW (Lempel–Ziv–Welch) is used in GIF images. Also noteworthy are the LZR (LZ–Renau) methods, which serve as the basis of the Zip method. LZ methods utilize a table-based compression model where table entries are substituted for repeated strings of data. For most LZ methods, this table is generated dynamically from earlier data in the input. The table itself is often Huffman encoded (e.g. SHRI, LZX). A current LZ-based coding scheme that performs well is LZX, used in Microsoft’s CAB format.
The very best modern lossless compressors use probabilistic models, such as prediction by partial matching. The Burrows–Wheeler transform can also be viewed as an indirect form of statistical modelling.
In a further refinement of these techniques, statistical predictions can be coupled to an algorithm called arithmetic coding. Arithmetic coding, invented by Jorma Rissanen, and turned into a practical method by Witten, Neal, and Cleary, achieves superior compression to the better-known Huffman algorithm, and lends itself especially well to adaptive data compression tasks where the predictions are strongly context-dependent. Arithmetic coding is used in the bilevel image-compression standard JBIG, and the document-compression standard DjVu. The text entry system, Dasher, is an inverse-arithmetic-coder.
Theory
The theoretical background of compression is provided by information theory (which is closely related to algorithmic information theory) for lossless compression, and by rate–distortion theory for lossy compression. These fields of study were essentially created by Claude Shannon, who published fundamental papers on the topic in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Coding theory is also related. The idea of data compression is deeply connected with statistical inference.
Many lossless data compression systems can be viewed in terms of a four-stage model. Lossy data compression systems typically include even more stages, including, for example, prediction, frequency transformation, and quantization.
Machine learning
There is a close connection between machine learning and compression: a system that predicts the posterior probabilities of a sequence given its entire history can be used for optimal data compression (by using arithmetic coding on the output distribution), while an optimal compressor can be used for prediction (by finding the symbol that compresses best, given the previous history). This equivalence has been used as justification for data compression as a benchmark for “general intelligence”.
Lossy and lossless compression
Image compression may be lossy or lossless. Lossless compression is preferred for archival purposes and often for medical imaging, technical drawings, clip art, or comics. This is because lossy compression methods, especially when used at low bit rates, introduce compression artifacts. Lossy methods are especially suitable for natural images such as photographs in applications where minor (sometimes imperceptible) loss of fidelity is acceptable to achieve a substantial reduction in bit rate. The lossy compression that produces imperceptible differences may be called visually lossless.
Methods for lossless image compression are:
Run-length encoding – used as default method in PCX and as one of possible in BMP, TGA, TIFF
DPCM and Predictive Coding
Entropy encoding
Adaptive dictionary algorithms such as LZW – used in GIF and TIFF
Deflation – used in PNG, MNG, and TIFF
Chain codes
Methods for lossy compression:
Reducing the color space to the most common colors in the image. The selected colors are specified in the color palette in the header of the compressed image. Each pixel just references the index of a color in the color palette. This method can be combined with dithering to avoid posterization.
Chroma subsampling. This takes advantage of the fact that the human eye perceives spatial changes of brightness more sharply than those of color, by averaging or dropping some of the chrominance information in the image.
Transform coding. This is the most commonly used method. A Fourier-related transform such as DCT or the wavelet transform are applied, followed by quantization and entropy coding.
Fractal compression.
Other properties
The best image quality at a given bit-rate (or compression rate) is the main goal of image compression, however, there are other important properties of image compression schemes:
Scalability generally refers to a quality reduction achieved by manipulation of the bitstream or file (without decompression and re-compression). Other names for scalability are progressive coding or embedded bitstreams. Despite its contrary nature, scalability also may be found in lossless codecs, usually in form of coarse-to-fine pixel scans. Scalability is especially useful for previewing images while downloading them (e.g., in a web browser) or for providing variable quality access to e.g., databases. There are several types of scalability:
Quality progressive or layer progressive: The bitstream successively refines the reconstructed image.
Resolution progressive: First encode a lower image resolution; then encode the difference to higher resolutions.
Component progressive: First encode grey; then color.
Region of interest coding. Certain parts of the image are encoded with higher quality than others. This may be combined with scalability (encode these parts first, others later).
Meta information. Compressed data may contain information about the image which may be used to categorize, search, or browse images. Such information may include color and texture statistics, small preview images, and author or copyright information.
Processing power. Compression algorithms require different amounts of processing power to encode and decode. Some high compression algorithms require high processing power.
The quality of a compression method often is measured by the Peak signal-to-noise ratio. It measures the amount of noise introduced through a lossy compression of the image, however, the subjective judgment of the viewer also is regarded as an important measure, perhaps, being the most important measure.
Video compression refers to reducing the quantity of data used to represent digital video images, and is a combination of spatial image compression and temporal motion compensation. Video compression is an example of the concept of source coding in Information theory. This article deals with its applications: compressed video can effectively reduce the bandwidth required to transmit video via terrestrial broadcast, via cable TV, or via satellite TV services.
Video quality
Most video compression is lossy — it operates on the premise that much of the data present before compression is not necessary for achieving good perceptual quality. For example, DVDs use a video coding standard called MPEG-2 that can compress video data by 15 to 30 times, while still producing a picture quality that is generally considered high-quality for standard-definition video. Video compression is a tradeoff between disk space, video quality, and the cost of hardware required to decompress the video in a reasonable time. However, if the video is overcompressed in a lossy manner, visible (and sometimes distracting) artifacts can appear.
Video compression typically operates on square-shaped groups of neighboring pixels, often called macroblocks. These pixel groups or blocks of pixels are compared from one frame to the next and the video compression codec (encode/decode scheme) sends only the differences within those blocks. This works extremely well if the video has no motion. A still frame of text, for example, can be repeated with very little transmitted data. In areas of video with more motion, more pixels change from one frame to the next. When more pixels change, the video compression scheme must send more data to keep up with the larger number of pixels that are changing. If the video content includes an explosion, flames, a flock of thousands of birds, or any other image with a great deal of high-frequency detail, the quality will decrease, or the variable bitrate must be increased to render this added information with the same level of detail.
The programming provider has control over the amount of video compression applied to their video programming before it is sent to their distribution system. DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and HD DVDs have video compression applied during their mastering process, though Blu-ray and HD DVD have enough disc capacity that most compression applied in these formats is light, when compared to such examples as most video streamed on the internet, or taken on a cellphone. Software used for storing video on hard drives or various optical disc formats will often have a lower image quality. High-bitrate video codecs with little or no compression exist for video post-production work, but create very large files and are thus almost never used for the distribution of finished videos. Once excessive lossy video compression compromises image quality, it is impossible to restore the image to its original quality.
Theory
Video is basically a three-dimensional array of color pixels. Two dimensions serve as spatial (horizontal and vertical) directions of the moving pictures, and one dimension represents the time domain. A data frame is a set of all pixels that correspond to a single time moment. Basically, a frame is the same as a still picture.
Video data contains spatial and temporal redundancy. Similarities can thus be encoded by merely registering differences within a frame (spatial), and/or between frames (temporal). Spatial encoding is performed by taking advantage of the fact that the human eye is unable to distinguish small differences in color as easily as it can perceive changes in brightness, so that very similar areas of color can be “averaged out” in a similar way to jpeg images (JPEG image compression FAQ, part 1/2). With temporal compression only the changes from one frame to the next are encoded as often a large number of the pixels will be the same on a series of frames.
Lossless compression
Some forms of data compression are lossless. This means that when the data is decompressed, the result is a bit-for-bit perfect match with the original. While lossless compression of video is possible, it is rarely used, as lossy compression results in far higher compression ratios at an acceptable level of quality.
Intraframe versus interframe compression
One of the most powerful techniques for compressing video is interframe compression. Interframe compression uses one or more earlier or later frames in a sequence to compress the current frame, while intraframe compression uses only the current frame, which is effectively image compression.
The most commonly used method works by comparing each frame in the video with the previous one. If the frame contains areas where nothing has moved, the system simply issues a short command that copies that part of the previous frame, bit-for-bit, into the next one. If sections of the frame move in a simple manner, the compressor emits a (slightly longer) command that tells the decompresser to shift, rotate, lighten, or darken the copy — a longer command, but still much shorter than intraframe compression. Interframe compression works well for programs that will simply be played back by the viewer, but can cause problems if the video sequence needs to be edited.
Since interframe compression copies data from one frame to another, if the original frame is simply cut out (or lost in transmission), the following frames cannot be reconstructed properly. Some video formats, such as DV, compress each frame independently using intraframe compression. Making ‘cuts’ in intraframe-compressed video is almost as easy as editing uncompressed video — one finds the beginning and ending of each frame, and simply copies bit-for-bit each frame that one wants to keep, and discards the frames one doesn’t want. Another difference between intraframe and interframe compression is that with intraframe systems, each frame uses a similar amount of data. In most interframe systems, certain frames (such as “I frames” in MPEG-2) aren’t allowed to copy data from other frames, and so require much more data than other frames nearby.
It is possible to build a computer-based video editor that spots problems caused when I frames are edited out while other frames need them. This has allowed newer formats like HDV to be used for editing. However, this process demands a lot more computing power than editing intraframe compressed video with the same picture quality.
Current forms
Today, nearly all commonly used video compression methods (e.g., those in standards approved by the ITU-T or ISO) apply a discrete cosine transform (DCT) for spatial redundancy reduction. Other methods, such as fractal compression, matching pursuit and the use of a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) have been the subject of some research, but are typically not used in practical products (except for the use of wavelet coding as still-image coders without motion compensation). Interest in fractal compression seems to be waning, due to recent theoretical analysis showing a comparative lack of effectiveness to such methods
R E A D C A R E F U L L Y
Psychophysics is a discipline within psychology that quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they effect. Psychophysics has been described as “the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation” or, more completely, as “the analysis of perceptual processes by studying the effect on a subject’s experience or behavior of systematically varying the properties of a stimulus along one or more physical dimensions”. Psychophysics has important applications on digital signal processing, by helping develop models and methods of lossy compression of audio and video in a way that the mind perceives very little loss of signal quality.
Psychophysics also refers to a general class of methods that can be applied to study a perceptual system. Modern applications tend to rely heavily on ideal observer analysis and signal detection theory.
History
Many of the classical techniques and theory of psychophysics were formulated in 1860 when Gustav Theodor Fechner published Elemente der Psychophysik.[4] He coined the term “psychophysics”, described research relating physical stimuli with how they are perceived, and set out the philosophical foundations of the field. Fechner wanted to develop a theory that could relate matter to the mind, by describing the relationship between the world and the way it is perceived. He was influenced by the work of German physiologist Ernst Heinrich Weber Fechner’s work formed the basis of psychology as a science. Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of the first laboratory for psychological research, built upon Fechner’s work.
Fechner’s work was studied and extended by Charles S. Peirce, who was aided by his student Joseph Jastrow, who soon became a distinguished experimental psychologist in his own right. Peirce and Jastrow largely confirmed the power-law research of Fechner, but rejected some aspects of Fechner’s theory. In particular, a classic experiment of Peirce and Jastrow rejected Fechner’s estimation of a threshold of perception of weights, as being far too high. In their experiment, Peirce and Jastrow in fact invented randomized experiments: They randomly assigned volunteers to a blinded, repeated-measures design to evaluate their ability to discriminate weights. Peirce’s experiment inspired other researchers in psychology and education, which developed a research tradition of randomized experiments in laboratories and specialized textbooks in the eighteen-hundreds. The Peirce–Jastrow experiments were conducted as part of Peirce’s pragmatic program to understand human perception; other studies considered the perception of light, etc.
More modern approaches are divided into three large camps: Likert scaling, signal detection theory and power law theory. Power law theory is named after psychophysicist Stanley Smith Stevens (1906–1973). Although the idea of a power law had been suggested by 19th century researchers, Stevens is credited with reviving the law, creating new methods of magnitude estimation, magnitude production and cross modality matching to create its scales and publishing a body of psychophysical data to support it.
Omar Khaleefa has argued that the medieval scientist Alhazen should be considered the founder of psychophysics. Although al-Haytham made many subjective reports regarding vision, there is no evidence that he used quantitative psychophysical techniques and such claims have been rebuffed.
Thresholds
Psychophysicists usually employ experimental stimuli that can be objectively measured, such as pure tones varying in intensity, or lights varying in luminance. All the senses have been studied: vision, hearing, touch (including skin and enteric perception), taste, smell and the sense of time. Regardless of the sensory domain, there are three main areas of investigation: absolute thresholds, discrimination thresholds and scaling.
A threshold (or limen), is the point of intensity at which the participant can just detect the presence of, or difference in, a stimulus. Stimuli with intensities below the threshold are considered not detectable (hence: sub-liminal). Stimuli at values close enough to a threshold will often be detectable some proportion of the time; therefore, a threshold is considered to be the point at which a stimulus, or change in a stimulus, is detected some proportion p of the time. There are two kinds of thresholds: absolute and difference.
Detection
An absolute threshold is the level of intensity of a stimulus at which the subject is able to detect the presence of the stimulus some proportion of the time (a p level of 50% is often used). An example of an absolute threshold is the number of hairs on the back of one’s hand that must be touched before it can be felt – a participant may be unable to feel a single hair being touched, but may be able to feel two or three as this exceeds the threshold. Absolute threshold is also often referred to as detection threshold.
Discrimination
A difference threshold is the magnitude of the difference between two stimuli of differing intensities that the participant is able to detect some proportion of the time (again, 50% is often used). To test this threshold, several different methods are used. The subject may be asked to adjust one stimulus until it is perceived as the same as the other, may be asked to describe the magnitude of the difference between two stimuli, or may be asked to detect a stimulus against a background.
In discrimination experiments, the experimenter seeks to determine at what point the difference between two stimuli, such as two weights or two sounds, is detectable. The subject is presented with one stimulus, for example a weight, and is asked to say whether another weight is heavier or lighter (in some experiments, the subject may also say the two weights are the same). At the point of subjective equality (PSE), the subject perceives the two weights to be the same. The just-noticeable difference (JND), or difference limen (DL), is the magnitude of the difference in stimuli that the subject notices some proportion p of the time (50% is usually used for p).
Absolute and difference thresholds are sometimes considered similar because there is always background noise interfering with our ability to detect stimuli, however study of difference thresholds still occurs, for example in pitch discrimination tasks.
Experimentation
In psychophysics, experiments seek to determine whether the subject can detect a stimulus, identify it, differentiate between it and another stimulus, and describe the magnitude or nature of this difference.[5][6]
Classical psychophysical methods
Psychophysical experiments have traditionally used three methods for testing subjects’ perception in stimulus detection and difference detection experiments: the method of limits, the method of constant stimuli and the method of adjustment.[16]
Method of limits
In ascending method of limits, some property of the stimulus starts out at a level so low that the stimulus could not be detected, then this level is gradually increased until the participant reports that they are aware of it. For example, if the experiment is testing the minimum amplitude of sound that can be detected, the sound begins too quietly to be perceived, and is made gradually louder. In the descending method of limits, this is reversed. In each case, the threshold is considered to be the level of the stimulus property at which the stimuli is just detected.
In experiments, the ascending and descending methods are used alternately and the thresholds are averaged. A possible disadvantage of these methods is that the subject may become accustomed to reporting that they perceive a stimulus and may continue reporting the same way even beyond the threshold (the error of habituation). Conversely, the subject may also anticipate that the stimulus is about to become detectable or undetectable and may make a premature judgment (the error of anticipation).
To avoid these potential pitfalls, Georg von Békésy introduced the staircase procedure in 1960 in his study of auditory perception. In this method, the sound starts out audible and gets quieter after each of the subject’s responses, until the subject does not report hearing it. At that point, the sound is made louder at each step, until the subject reports hearing it, at which point it is made quieter in steps again. This way the experimenter is able to “zero in” on the threshold.[16]
Method of constant stimuli
Instead of being presented in ascending or descending order, in the method of constant stimuli the levels of a certain property of the stimulus are not related from one trial to the next, but presented randomly. This prevents the subject from being able to predict the level of the next stimulus, and therefore reduces errors of habituation and expectation. The subject again reports whether he or she is able to detect the stimulus. Friedrich Hegelmaier described the method of constant stimuli in a 1852 paper. This method allows for full sampling of the psychometric function, but can result in a lot of trials when several conditions are interleaved.
Method of adjustment
The method of adjustment asks the subject to control the level of the stimulus, instructs them to alter it until it is just barely detectable against the background noise, or is the same as the level of another stimulus. This is repeated many times. This is also called the method of average error.[16] In this method the observer himself controls the magnitude of the variable stimulus beginning with a variable that is distinctly greater or lesser than a standard one and he varies it until he is satisfied by the subjectivity of two. The difference between the variable stimuli and the standard one is recorded after each adjustment and the error is tabulated for a considerable series. At the end mean is calculated giving the average error which can be taken as the measure of sensitivity.
Adaptive psychophysical methods
Often, the classic methods of experimentation are argued to be inefficient. This is because, in advance of testing, the psychometric threshold is usually unknown and a lot of data has to be collected at points on the psychometric function that provide little information about its shape (the tails). Adaptive staircase procedures can be used such that the points sampled are clustered around the psychometric threshold. However, the cost of this efficiency is that you do not get the same amount of information regarding the shape of the psychometric function as you can through classical methods. Despite this, it is still possible to estimate the threshold and slope by fitting psychometric functions to the obtained data, although estimates of psychometric slope are likely to be more variable than those from the method of constant stimuli (for a reasonable sampling of the psychometric function).
Staircase procedures
Staircases usually begin with a high intensity stimulus, which is easy to detect. The intensity is then reduced until the observer makes a mistake, at which point the staircase ‘reverses’ and intensity is increased until the observer responds correctly, triggering another reversal. The values for these ‘reversals’ are then averaged. There are many different types of staircase, utilising many different decision and termination rules. Step-size, up/down rules and the spread of the underlying psychometric function dictate where on the psychometric function they converge. Threshold values obtained from staircases can fluctuate wildly, so care must be taken in their design. Many different staircase algorithms have been modeled and some practical recommendations suggested by Garcia-Perez.[18]
Magnitude estimation
In the prototypical case, people are asked to assign numbers in proportion to the magnitude of the stimulus. This psychometric function of the geometric means of their numbers is often a power law with stable, replicable exponent. Although contexts can change the law and exponent, that change too is stable and replicable. Instead of numbers, other sensory or cognitive dimensions can be used to match a stimulus and the method then becomes “magnitude production” or “cross-modality matching”. The exponents of those dimensions found in numerical magnitude estimation predict the exponents found in magnitude production. Magnitude estimation generally finds lower exponents for the psychophysical function than Likert scaling, because of the restricted range of the categorical Likert scales.
R E A D C A R E F U L L Y T H I S C H A P T E R
A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behaviour of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. Such neurons have been directly observed in primate and other species including birds. In humans, brain activity consistent with that of mirror neurons has been found in the premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the primary somatosensory cortex and the inferior parietal cortex.
Mirror neurons were first described in 1992. Some scientists consider this to be one of the most important recent discoveries in neuroscience. Among them is V.S. Ramachandran, who believes they might be very important in imitation and language acquisition. However, despite the excitement generated by these findings, to date no widely accepted neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions such as imitation.
The function of the mirror system is a subject of much speculation. Many researchers in cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology consider that this system provides the physiological mechanism for the perception action coupling (see the common coding theory). These mirror neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Some researchers also speculate that mirror systems may simulate observed actions, and thus contribute to theory of mind skills, while others relate mirror neurons to language abilities. It has also been proposed that problems with the mirror system may underlie cognitive disorders, particularly autism. However the connection between mirror neuron dysfunction and autism is tentative and it remains to be seen how mirror neurons may be related to many of the important characteristics of autism.
“I would rather say Automates!!!” Think about it.
Discovery
In the 1980s and 1990s, Giacomo Rizzolatti was working with Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, and Vittorio Gallese at the University of Parma, Italy. These neurophysiologists had placed electrodes in the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque monkey to study neurons specialized for the control of hand and mouth actions; for example, taking hold of an object and manipulating it. During each experiment, they recorded from a single neuron in the monkey’s brain while the monkey was allowed to reach for pieces of food, so the researchers could measure the neuron’s response to certain movements.[11][12] They found that some of the neurons they recorded from would respond when the monkey saw a person pick up a piece of food as well as when the monkey picked up the food. The discovery was initially sent to Nature but was rejected for its “lack of general interest”.
A few years later, the same group published another empirical paper and discussed the role of the mirror neuron system in action recognition, and proposed that the human Broca’s region was the homologue region of the monkey ventral premotor cortex.
Further experiments confirmed that about 10% of neurons in the monkey inferior frontal and inferior parietal cortex have ‘mirror’ properties and give similar responses to performed hand actions and observed actions. More recently Christian Keysers and colleagues have shown that, in both humans and monkeys, the mirror system also responds to the sound of actions.
Reports on mirror neurons have been widely published[17] and confirmed[18] with mirror neurons found in both inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions of the brain. Recently, evidence from functional neuroimaging strongly suggests that humans have similar mirror neurons systems: researchers have identified brain regions which respond during both action and observation of action. Not surprisingly, these brain regions include those found in the macaque monkey.[1] However, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can examine the entire brain at once and suggests that a much wider network of brain areas shows mirror properties in humans than previously thought. These additional areas include the somatosensory cortex and are thought to make the observer feel what it feels like to move in the observed way
In monkeys
Neonatal (newborn) macaque imitating facial expressions
The first animal in which mirror neurons have been studied individually is the macaque monkey. In these monkeys, mirror neurons are found in the inferior frontal gyrus (region F5) and the inferior parietal lobule.[1]
Mirror neurons are believed to mediate the understanding of other animals’ behaviour. For example, a mirror neuron which fires when the monkey rips a piece of paper would also fire when the monkey sees a person rip paper, or hears paper ripping (without visual cues). These properties have led researchers to believe that mirror neurons encode abstract concepts of actions like ‘ripping paper’, whether the action is performed by the monkey or another animal.[1]
The function of mirror neurons in macaques is not known. Adult macaques do not seem to learn by imitation. Recent experiments suggest that infant macaqes can imitate a human’s face movements, though only as neonates and during a limited temporal window.[21] However, it is not known if mirror neurons underlie this behaviour.
In adult monkeys, mirror neurons may enable the monkey to understand what another monkey is doing, or to recognise the other monkey’s action.
In humans
Diagram of the brain, showing the locations of the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebrum, viewed from the left. The inferior frontal lobe is the lower part of the blue area, and the superior parietal lobe is the upper part of the yellow area.
It is not normally possible to study single neurons in the human brain, so most evidence for mirror neurons in humans is indirect. Brain imaging experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that the human inferior frontal cortex and superior parietal lobe is active when the person performs an action and also when the person sees another individual performing an action. It has been suggested that these brain regions contain mirror neurons, and they have been defined as the human mirror neuron system.[23] More recent experiments have shown that even at the level of single participants, scanned using fMRI, large areas containing multiple fMRI voxels increase their activity both during the observation and execution of actions.[19]
Neuropsychological studies looking at lesion areas that cause action knowledge, pantomime interpretation, and biological motion perception deficits have pointed to a causal link between the integrity of the inferior frontal gyrus and these behaviours.[24][25][26] Transcranial magnetic stimulation studies have confirmed this as well.[27][28] These results indicate the activation in mirror neuron related areas are unlikely to be just epiphenomenal.
A study published in April 2010 reports recordings from single neurons with mirror properties in the human brain.[29] Mukamel et al (Current Biology, 2010) recorded from the brains of 21 patients who were being treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for intractable epilepsy. The patients had been implanted with intracranial depth electrodes to identify seizure foci for potential surgical treatment. Electrode location was based solely on clinical criteria; the researchers, with the patients’ consent, used the same electrodes to “piggyback” their research. The experiment included three parts: facial expressions, grasping and a control experiment. Activity from a total of 1,177 neurons in the 21 patients was recorded as the patients both observed and performed grasping actions and facial gestures. In the observation phase, the patients observed various actions presented on a laptop computer. In the activity phase, the subjects were asked to perform an action based on a visually presented word. In the control task, the same words were presented and the patients were instructed not to execute the action. The researchers found a small number of neurons that fired or showed their greatest activity both when the individual performed a task and when they observed a task. Other neurons had anti-mirror properties, that is, they responded when the participant saw an action but were inhibited when the participant performed that action. The mirror neurons found were located in the supplementary motor area and medial temporal cortex (other brain regions were not sampled). For purely practical reasons, these regions are not the same as those in which mirror neurons had been recorded from in the monkey: researchers in Parma were studying the ventral premotor cortex and the associated inferior parietal lobe, two regions in which epilepsy rarely occurs, and hence, single cell recordings in these regions are not usually done in humans. On the other hand, no one has to date looked for mirror neurons in the supplementary motor area or the medial temporal lobe in the monkey. Together, this therefore does not suggest that humans and monkeys have mirror neurons in different locations, but rather than they may have mirror neurons both in the ventral premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobe, where they have been recorded in the monkey, and in the supplementary motor areas and medial temporal lobe, where they have been recorded from in human – especially because detailed human fMRI analyses suggest activity compatible with the presence of mirror neurons in all these regions.
Doubts concerning mirror neurons
One recent review argued that the original analyses were unconvincing because they were based on qualitative descriptions of individual cell properties, and did not take into account the small number of strongly mirror-selective neurons in motor areas.[5] Other reviews argued that the measurements of neuron fire delay seem not to be compatible with standard reaction times,[30] and pointed out that nobody has reported that an interruption of the motor areas in F5 would produce a decrement in action recognition.,[31] although it appears these authors have missed human neuropsychological and TMS studies reporting disruption of these areas do indeed cause action deficits [25][27] without affecting other kinds of perception.[26] It is not clear, according to these reviews, whether mirror neurons really form a distinct class of cells (as opposed to an occasional phenomenon seen in cells that have other functions),[30] and whether mirror activity is a distinct type of response or simply an artifact of an overall facilitation of the motor system.[31] Indeed, there is limited understanding of the degree to which monkeys show imitative behaviour in the first place.[5]
Development
Human infant data using eye-tracking measures suggest that the mirror neuron system develops before 12 months of age, and that this system may help human infants understand other people’s actions.[32] A critical question concerns how mirror neurons acquire mirror properties. Two closely related models postulate that mirror neurons are trained through Hebbian[33] or Associative learning[34][35][36] (see Associative Sequence Learning). However, if premotor neurons need to be trained by action in order to acquire mirror properties, it is unclear how newborn babies are able to mimic the facial gestures of another person (imitation of unseen actions), as suggested by the work of Meltzoff and Moore. One possibility is that the sight of tongue protrusion recruits an innate releasing mechanism in neonates. Careful analysis suggests that ‘imitation’ of this single gesture may account for almost all reports of facial mimicry by new-born infants.
Possible functions Understanding intentions
Many studies link mirror neurons to understanding goals and intentions. Fogassi et al. (2005)[38] recorded the activity of 41 mirror neurons in the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) of two rhesus macaques. The IPL has long been recognized as an association cortex that integrates sensory information. The monkeys watched an experimenter either grasp an apple and bring it to his mouth or grasp an object and place it in a cup. In total, 15 mirror neurons fired vigorously when the monkey observed the “grasp-to-eat” motion, but registered no activity while exposed to the “grasp-to-place” condition. For 4 other mirror neurons, the reverse held true: they activated in response to the experimenter eventually placing the apple in the cup but not to eating it.
Only the type of action, and not the kinematic force with which models manipulated objects, determined neuron activity. It was also significant that neurons fired before the monkey observed the human model starting the second motor act (bringing the object to the mouth or placing it in a cup). Therefore, IPL neurons “code the same act (grasping) in a different way according to the final goal of the action in which the act is embedded”.[38] They may furnish a neural basis for predicting another individual’s subsequent actions and inferring intention.
Empathy
Stephanie Preston and Frans de Waal,[39] Jean Decety,[40][41] and Vittorio Gallese[42][43] and Christian Keysers[3] have independently argued that the mirror neuron system is involved in empathy. A large number of experiments using functional MRI, electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have shown that certain brain regions (in particular the anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and inferior frontal cortex) are active when people experience an emotion (disgust, happiness, pain, etc.) and when they see another person experiencing an emotion. However, these brain regions are not quite the same as the ones which mirror hand actions, and mirror neurons for emotional states or empathy have not yet been described in monkeys.
More recently, Christian Keysers at the Social Brain Lab and colleagues have shown that people who are more empathic according to self-report questionnaires have stronger activations both in the mirror system for hand actions[51] and the mirror system for emotions,[49] providing more direct support for the idea that the mirror system is linked to empathy.
Human self awareness
V.S Ramachandran has speculated that mirror neurons may provide the neurological basis of human self awareness.[52] In an essay written for the Edge Foundation in 2009 Ramachandran gave the following explanation of his theory: “… I also speculated that these neurons can not only help simulate other people’s behavior but can be turned “inward”—as it were—to create second-order representations or meta-representations of your own earlier brain processes. This could be the neural basis of introspection, and of the reciprocity of self awareness and other awareness. There is obviously a chicken-or-egg question here as to which evolved first, but… The main point is that the two co-evolved, mutually enriching each other to create the mature representation of self that characterizes modern humans.” [53]
Language
In humans, functional MRI studies have reported finding areas homologous to the monkey mirror neuron system in the inferior frontal cortex, close to Broca’s area, one of the hypothesized language regions of the brain. This has led to suggestions that human language evolved from a gesture performance/understanding system implemented in mirror neurons. Mirror neurons have been said to have the potential to provide a mechanism for action-understanding, imitation-learning, and the simulation of other people’s behaviour.[54] This hypothesis is supported by some cytoarchitectonic homologies between monkey premotor area F5 and human Broca’s area.[55] Rates of vocabulary expansion link to the ability of children to vocally mirror non-words and so to acquire the new word pronunciations. Such speech repetition occurs automatically, fast[56] and separately in the brain to speech perception.[57][58] Moreover such vocal imitation can occur without comprehension such as in speech shadowing[59] and echolalia.
Further evidence for this link comes from a recent study in which the brain activity of two participants was measured using fMRI while they were gesturing words to each other using hand gestures with a game of charades – a modality that some have suggested might represent the evolutionary precursor of human language. Analysis of the data using Granger Causality revealed that the mirror-neuron system of the observer indeed reflects the pattern of activity of the activity in the motor system of the sender, supporting the idea that the motor concept associated with the words is indeed transmitted from one brain to another using the mirror system.
It must be noticed that the mirror neuron system seems to be inherently inadequate to play any role in syntax, given that this definitory property of human languages which is implemented in hierarchical recursive structure is flattened into linear sequences of phonemes making the recursive structure not accessible to sensory detection.
Automatic Imitation
The term is commonly used to refer to cases in which an individual, having observed a body movement, deliberately performs a topographically similar body movement. Automatic Imitation rarely involves overt behavioral execution of matching responses. Automatic imitation effects typically consist of RT, rather than accuracy, differences between compatible and incompatible trials. Research reveals that the existence of automatic imitation which is a covert form of imitation, distinct from spatial compatibility. It also indicates that, although automatic imitation subject to input modulation by attentional processes, and output modulation by inhibitory processes, it is mediated by learned, long-term sensorimotor associations that cannot be altered directly by intentional processes. Many researchers believe that automatic imitation is mediated by the mirror neuron system.
Motor Mimicry
In contrast with automatic imitation, motor mimicry is observed in (1) naturalistic social situations and (b) via measures of action frequency within a session rather than measures of speed and/or accuracy within trials. [64]
The integration of research on motor mimicry and automatic imitation could reveal plausible indications that these phenomena depend on the same psychological and neural processes. Preliminary evidence however comes from studies showing that social priming has similar effects on motor mimicry.[65] [66]
Nevertheless, the similarities between automatic imitation, mirror effects, and motor mimicry have led some researchers to propose that automatic imitation is mediated by the mirror neuron system and that it is a tightly controlled laboratory equivalent of the motor mimicry observed in naturalistic social contexts. If true, then automatic imitation can be used as a tool to investigate how the mirror neuron system contributes to cognitive functioning and how motor mimicry promotes prosocial attitudes and behavior.[67]
Autism
Some researchers claim there is a link between mirror neuron deficiency and autism. EEG recordings from motor areas are suppressed when someone watches another person move, a signal that may relate to mirror neuron system. This suppression was less in children with autism.[9] Although these findings have been replicated by several groups,[68][69] other studies have not found evidence of a dysfunctional mirror neuron system in autism.[5] In 2008, Oberman et al. published a research paper that presented conflicting EEG evidence. Oberman and Ramachandran found typical mu-suppression for familiar stimuli, but not for unfamiliar stimuli, leading them to conclude that the mirror neuron system of children with ASD was functional, but less sensitive than that of typical children.[70] Based on the conflicting evidence presented by mu-wave suppression experiments, Patricia Churchland has cautioned that mu-wave suppression results cannot be used as a valid index for measuring the performance of mirror neuron systems.[71] Finally, anatomical differences have been found in the mirror neuron related brain areas in adults with autism spectrum disorders, compared to non-autistic adults. All these cortical areas were thinner and the degree of thinning was correlated with autism symptom severity, a correlation nearly restricted to these brain regions.[72] Based on these results, some researchers claim that autism is caused by impairments in the mirror neuron system, leading to disabilities in social skills, imitation, empathy and theory of mind.
Many researchers have pointed out that the “broken mirrors” theory of autism is overly simplistic, and mirror neurons alone cannot explain the deficits found in individuals with autism. First of all, as noted above, none of these studies were direct measures of mirror neuron activity - in other words fMRI activity or EEG rhythm suppression do not unequivocally index mirror neurons. Dinstein and colleagues found normal mirror neuron activity in people with autism using fMRI.[73] In individuals with autism, deficits in intention understanding, action understanding and biological motion perception (the key functions of mirror neurons) are not always found,[74][75] or are task dependent. Today, very few people believe an all-or-nothing problem with the mirror system can underlie autism. Instead, “additional research needs to be done, and more caution should be used when reaching out to the media”.
Theory of mind
In Philosophy of mind, mirror neurons have become the primary rallying call of simulation theorists concerning our ‘theory of mind.’ ‘Theory of mind’ refers to our ability to infer another person’s mental state (i.e., beliefs and desires) from experiences or their behaviour. For example, if you see a girl reaching into a jar labeled ‘cookies,’ you might assume that she wants a cookie and believes that there are cookies in the jar (even if you know the jar is empty).
There are several competing models which attempt to account for our theory of mind; the most notable in relation to mirror neurons is simulation theory. According to simulation theory, theory of mind is available because we subconsciously empathize with the person we’re observing and, accounting for relevant differences, imagine what we would desire and believe in that scenario.[79][80] Mirror neurons have been interpreted as the mechanism by which we simulate others in order to better understand them, and therefore their discovery has been taken by some as a validation of simulation theory (which appeared a decade before the discovery of mirror neurons). More recently, Theory of Mind and Simulation have been seen as complementary systems, with different developmental time courses.
Gender differences
The issue of gender differences in empathy is quite controversial and subject to social desirability and stereotypes. However, a series of recent studies conducted by Yawei Cheng, using a variety of neurophysiological measures, including MEG,[85] spinal reflex excitability, electroencephalography, have documented the presence of a gender difference in the human mirror neuron system, with female participants exhibiting stronger motor resonance than male participants.
Criticism
Although many in the scientific community have been excited about the discovery of mirror neurons, there are some researchers who express skepticism in regards to the claims that mirror neurons can explain empathy, theory of mind, etc. Greg Hickok, a cognitive neuroscientist at UC Irvine, has claimed that “there is little or no evidence to support the ‘mirror neuron = action understanding’ hypothesis”.
Emotional contagion is the tendency to catch and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by those of others. One view developed by John Cacioppo of the underlying mechanism is that it represents a tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally.[1] A broader definition of the phenomenon was suggested by Sigal G. Barsade—”a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes”.
Emotional contagion may be involved in mob psychology crowd behaviors, like collective fear, disgust, or moral outrage, but also emotional interactions in smaller groups such as work negotiation, teaching and persuasion/propaganda contexts. It is also the phenomenon when a person (especially a child) appears distressed because another person is distressed, or happy because they are happy. The ability to transfer moods appears to be innate in humans. Emotional contagion and empathy have an interesting relationship; for without an ability to differentiate between personal and pre-personal experience (see individuation), they appear the same. In The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm explores the autonomy necessary for empathy which is not found in contagion. Fromm extolled the virtues of humans taking independent action and using reason to establish moral values rather than adhering to authoritarian moral values.[clarification needed] Recognizing emotions and acknowledging their cause can be one way to avoid emotional contagion. Transfers of emotions have been studied in different situations and settings. Social and physiological causes are the two largest areas of research.
In addition to the social contexts discussed above, emotional contagion is a concept that has been studied within organizations. Schrock, Leaf, and Rohr (2008) discuss that organizations, like societies, have emotion cultures that consist of languages, rituals, and meaning systems, including rules about the feelings workers should, and should not, feel and display. They state that the concept of emotion culture is quite similar to the notion of “emotion climate” (p. 46), which has also been synonymously referred to as morale, organizational morale, and corporate morale.[citation needed] Furthermore, Worline, Wrzesniewski, and Rafaeli (2002) make mention that organizations have an overall “emotional capability” (p. 318), while McColl-Kennedy and Smith (2006) examine the concept of “emotional contagion” (p. 255) specifically in customer interactions. These terms are arguably all attempting to describe a similar phenomenon; each term is different from one another in subtle and somewhat indistinguishable ways. Future research might consider where and how the meanings of these terms intersect, as well as how they differ.
Implicit emotional contagion
Unlike cognitive contagion, emotional contagion is less conscious and more automatic. It relies mainly on non-verbal communication, although it has been demonstrated that emotional contagion can, and does, occur via telecommunication. For example, people interacting through E-mails and “chats” are affected by the other’s emotions, without being able to perceive the non-verbal cues.
One view, proposed by Hatfield and colleagues, describes the emotional contagion process as a primitive, automatic and unconscious behavior. According to them, it takes place through a series of steps. When a receiver is interacting with a sender, he perceives the emotional expressions of the sender. The receiver automatically mimics those emotional expressions. Through the process of afferent feedback, these new expressions are translated into feeling the emotions the sender feels, thus leading to emotional convergence. Another view, emanating from social comparison theories, sees emotional contagion as demanding more cognitive effort and being more conscious. According to this view, people engage in social comparison to see if their emotional reaction is congruent with the persons around them. In this case, the recipient uses the emotion as a type of social information to understand how he or she should be feeling.
People respond differentially to positive and negative stimuli, and negative events tend to elicit stronger and quicker emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses than neutral or positive events. Thus, unpleasant emotions are more likely to lead to mood contagion than are pleasant emotions. Another variable that needs to be taken into account is the energy level at which the emotion is displayed. As higher energy causes more attention to it, the prediction is that the same emotional valence (pleasant or unpleasant) expressed with high energy will lead to more contagion than if expressed with low energy.
Explicit emotional contagion
Contrary to the automatic infection of feelings described above, there are times when others’ emotions are being manipulated by a person or a group in order to achieve something. This can be a result of intentional affective influence by a leader or team member. Suppose this person wants to convince the others in something, he may do so by sweeping them in his enthusiasm. In such a case, his positive emotions are an act with a purpose of “contaminating” the others’ feelings. A different kind of intentional mood contagion is by giving the group a reward, or treat, in order to alleviate their feelings.
In the organizational psychology literature, a growing body of research is dedicated to the aspects of emotional labor. In short, it deals with the need to manage emotions so that they are consistent with organizational or occupational display rules, regardless of whether they are discrepant with internal feelings. In regard to emotional contagion, in work settings that require a certain display of emotions, one finds himself obligated to display, and consequently feel, these emotions. In a process where surface acting develops into deep acting, emotional contagion is the byproduct of intentional affective impression management.
Factors influencing group contagion
There are several factors which determine the rate and extent of emotional convergence in a group. Some of these are: membership stability, mood-regulation norms, task interdependence and social interdependence.[4]
Besides these event-structure properties, there are personal properties of the group’s members, such as openness to receive and transmit feelings, demographic characteristics and dispositional affect, that influence the intensity of emotional contagion.
Evolutionary point of view
A somewhat different explanation of the emotional contagion phenomenon is provided by evolutionary theorists: “Given that emotions function to help humans adapt to social situations it makes sense that one person’s emotion would affect another’s. Just as herd animals would benefit from rapidly passing messages about risk and reward, emotional contagion seems to be adaptive for humans to function in groups. This system can enable a rapid communication of opportunity and risk, mediate a group interaction, and help humans attend to social rules and norms such as maintaining harmonious interaction with a powerful ally”.[5]
Consequences in organizations and workplaces
Intragroup emotional contagion
Many organizations and workplaces are currently encouraging team-work. This is a move driven by studies conducted by organizational psychologists that highlight the benefits of work-teams. Also, putting people together as a group and expecting everything to pass quietly is being naïve. Emotions come into play and a “group emotion” (Emotional transmission) is formed.
The group’s emotional state has an influence on factors such as cohesiveness, moral, rapport and the team’s performance. For this reason, organizations need to take into account the factors that shape the emotional state of the work-teams, in order to harness the beneficial sides and avoid the detrimental sides of the group’s emotion. Managers and team leaders should be even more cautious with their behavior, since their emotional influence is greater than that of a “regular” team member. It has been shown that leaders are more emotionally “contagious” than others.
Employee-customer emotional contagion
The interaction between service employees and customers is considered an essential part of both customers’ assessments of service quality and their relationship with the service provider.[7] Positive affective displays in service interactions are positively associated with important customer outcomes, such as intention to return and to recommend the store to a friend.[8] It is the interest of organizations that their customers be happy, since a happy customer is a satisfied one. Research has shown that the emotional state of the customer is directly influenced by the emotions displayed by the employee/service provider via emotional contagion.[9] But, this influence is dependent on the degree of authenticity of the employee’s emotional display, such that if the employee is only surface-acting, the contagion of the customer is poor, in which case the beneficial effects stated above will not occur.
Married couples
Robert Levenson, Ph.D., researches human psychophysiology. Levenson uses longitudinal studies of married couples’ physiological responses. He measures how empathy requires a calm and receptive emotional environment for the couple to be in physiological sync. When an emotional hijacking is taking place (anger or argument) empathy declines and the cognitions of the spouse are blocked.
Heritability
Dr. Ed Diener maintains that genetics influences our positive and negative dispositions. David Lykken offers an emotional set point theory he backs up with habitability studies of twins.
Children
Psychologist Elaine Hatfield theorizes emotional contagions as a two-step process: Step 1: We imitate people, if someone smiles at you, you smile back. Step 2: Changes in mood through faking it. If you smile you feel happy, if you frown you feel bad.[citation needed] Mimicry seems to be one foundation of emotional movement between people. Hour old infants will mimic a person’s facial expressions such as smiling.
Martin E.P.Seligman, Ph.D., uses synchrony games to build children’s learning that “your actions matter and can control outcomes”. When a baby bangs on a table the adult bangs on the table, replicating the action. This is one way emotional learning can be validated by an adult.
Neurological mechanisms
Vittorio Gallese posits that mirror neurons are responsible for intentional attunement in relation to others. Gallese and colleagues at the University of Parma found a class of neurons in the premotor cortex that discharge when macaque monkeys execute goal-related hand movements or when they watch others doing the same action. One class of these neurons fires with action execution and observation, and with sound production of the same action. Research in humans shows an activation of the premotor cortex and parietal area of the brain for action perception and execution. Gallese continues his dialogue to say humans understand emotions through a simulated shared body state. The observers’ neural activation enables a direct experiential understanding. “Unmediated resonance” is a similar theory by Goldman and Sripada (2004). Empathy can be a product of the functional mechanism in our brain that creates embodied simulation. The other we see or hear becomes the “other self” in our minds. Other researchers have shown that observing someone else’s emotions recruits brain regions involved in (a) experiencing similar emotions and (b) produce similar facial expressions.[10][11][12][13] This combination of activations indicates that the observer activates (a) a representation of the emotional feeling of the other individual which would lead to emotional contagion and (b) a motor representation of the observed facial expression that could lead to facial mimicry. In the brain, understanding and sharing other individuals’ emotions would thus be a combination of emotional contagion and facial mimicry. Importantly, more empathic individuals activate the brain regions involved in their own emotions more strongly while witnessing the emotions of other individuals.
Amygdala
The amygdala is the part of the brain mechanism that underlies empathy and allows for emotional attunement and creates the pathway for emotional contagions. The basal areas including the brain stem form a tight loop of biological connectedness, re-creating in one person the physiological state of the other. Howard Friedman, a psychologist at the University of California at Irvine thinks this is why some people can move and inspire others. The use of facial expressions, voices, gestures and body movements transmit emotions to an audience from a speaker.
Insulation and inoculation
The concept of insulating oneself from emotional contagion is called emotional detachment. Alexithymic conditions may be one avenue people use to avoid emotional contagions. Primary alexithymia has a distinct neurological basis and a physical cause, such as genetic abnormality, disrupted biological development or traumatic brain injury (an example would be stroke). Secondary alexithymia results from psychological influences such as sociocultural conditioning, neurotic retroflection or defense against trauma. Secondary is often seen in post-traumatic stress patients. Secondary alexithymia is presumed to be more transient than primary alexithymia and hence more likely to respond to therapy or training.
Howard Gardner has developed his multiple intelligence theory to include:
interpersonal intelligence, which is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.
intrapersonal intelligence, which entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner’s view it involves having an effective working model of us, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.
The use of interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence can create an atmosphere of growth for individuals.
Limbic resonance is a concept of empathic harmony arising from the limbic system of the brain. It was first advanced in the book A General Theory of Love (2000). It refers to the capacity for empathy and non-verbal connection that is present in animals, and that forms the basis of our social connections as well as the foundation for various modes of therapy and healing. According to the authors (Thomas Lewis, M.D, Fari Amini, M.D. and Richard Lannon, M.D.), professors of psychiatry at UCSF, our nervous systems are not self-contained, but rather demonstrably attuned to those around us with whom we share a close connection. “Within the effulgence of their new brain, mammals developed a capacity we call ‘limbic resonance’ — a symphony of mutual exchange and internal adaptation whereby two mammals become attuned to each other’s inner states.”[1]
This notion of limbic resonance builds on previous formulations and similar ideas. For example, the authors retell at length the notorious experiments of Harry Harlow establishing the importance of physical contact and affection in social and cognitive development of rhesus monkeys.[2] They also make extensive use of subsequent research by Tiffany Field in mother/infant contact,[3][4] Paul D. MacLean on the triune brain (reptilian, limbic, and neocortex),[5] and the work of G.W. Kraemer.
Subsequent use of the term
Since the first publication of A General Theory of Love in 2000, the term limbic resonance has gained popularity with subsequent writers and researchers.[7] The term brings a higher degree of specificity to the ongoing discourse in psychological literature concerning the importance of empathy and relatedness. In “A handbook of Psychology” (2003) a clear path is traced from Winnicott 1965 identifying the concept of mother and child as a relational organism or dyad and goes on to examine the interrelation of social and emotional responding with neurological development and the role of the limbic system in regulating response to stress.
Limbic resonance is also referred to as “empathic resonance”, as in the book Empathy in Mental Illness (2007), which establishes the centrality of empathy or lack thereof in a range of individual and social pathologies. The authors Farrow and Woodruff cite the work of Maclean, 1985, as establishing that “Empathy is perhaps the heart of mammalian development, limbic regulation and social organization”,[11]:50 as well as research by Carr et al., 2003, who used fMRI to map brain activity during the observation and imitation of emotional facial expressions, concluding that “we understand the feelings of others via a mechanism of action representation that shapes emotional content and that our empathic resonance is grounded in the experience of our bodies in action and the emotions associated with specific bodily movements”. Other studies cited examine the link between mirror neurons (activated during such mimicking activity) and the limbic system, such as Chartrand & Bargh, 1999: “Mirror neurone areas seem to monitor this interdependence, this intimacy, this sense of collective agency that comes out of social interactions and that is tightly linked to the ability to form empathic resonance.”
Limbic resonance and limbic regulation are also referred to as “mood contagion” or “emotional contagion” as in the work of Sigal Barsade and colleagues at the Yale School of Management.[12] In The Wise Heart, Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield echoes the musical metaphor of the original definition of “limbic resonance” offered by authors Lewis, Amini and Lannon of A General Theory of Love, and correlates these findings of Western psychology with the tenets of Buddhism: “Each time we meet another human being and honor their dignity, we help those around us. Their hearts resonate with ours in exactly the same way the strings of an unplucked violin vibrate with the sounds of a violin played nearby. Western psychology has documented this phenomenon of ‘mood contagion’ or limbic resonance. If a person filled with panic or hatred walks into a room, we feel it immediately, and unless we are very mindful, that person’s negative state will begin to overtake our own. When a joyfully expressive person walks into a room, we can feel that state as well.”[13]
In March 2010, citing A General Theory of Love, Kevin Slavin referred to limbic resonance in considering the dynamics of Social television. Broadly, Slavin suggests that the laugh track evolved to provide the audience — alone at home — with a sense that others around them were laughing, and that limbic resonance explains the need for that laughing audience.
Affective neuroscience is the study of the neural mechanisms of emotion. This interdisciplinary field combines neuroscience with the psychological study of personality, emotion, and mood.
Brain areas related to emotion
Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention, motivate our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us. Pioneering work by Broca (1878)[1], Papez (1937)[2], and MacLean (1952) [3] suggested that emotion is related to a group of structures in the center of the brain called the limbic system, which includes the hypothalamus, cingulate cortex, hippocampi, and other structures. Research has shown that limbic structures are directly related to emotion, but non-limbic structures have been found to be of greater emotional relevance. The following brain structures are currently thought to be involved in emotion.
Amygdala — The amygdalae are two small, round structures located anterior to the hippocampi near the temporal poles. The amygdalae are involved in detecting and learning what parts of our surroundings are important and have emotional significance. They are critical for the production of emotion, and may be particularly so for negative emotions, especially fear.
Prefrontal cortex — The term prefrontal cortex refers to the very front of the brain, behind the forehead and above the eyes. It appears to play a critical role in the regulation of emotion and behavior by anticipating the consequences of our actions. The prefrontal cortex may play an important role in delayed gratification by maintaining emotions over time and organizing behavior toward specific goals[6].
Anterior cingulate — The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is located in the middle of the brain, just behind the prefrontal cortex. The ACC is thought to play a central role in attention, and may be particularly important with regard to conscious, subjective emotional awareness. This region of the brain may also play an important role in the initiation of motivated behavior.
Ventral striatum — The ventral striatum is a group of subcortical structures thought to play an important role in emotion and behavior. One part of the ventral striatum called the nucleus accumbens is thought to be involved in the experience of goal-directed positive emotion. Individuals with addictions experience increased activity in this area when they encounter the object of their addiction.
Insula — The insular cortex is thought to play a critical role in the bodily experience of emotion, as it is connected to other brain structures that regulate the body’s autonomic functions (heart rate, breathing, digestion, etc.). This region also processes taste information and is thought to play an important role in experiencing the emotion of disgust.
Cerebellum - Recently, there has been a considerable amount of work that describes the role of the cerebellum in emotion as well as cognition, and a “cerebellar cognitive-affective syndrome” has been described. Both neuroimaging studies as well as studies following pathological lesions in the cerebellum (such as a stroke) demonstrate that the cerebellum has a significant role in emotional regulation. Lesion studies[8] have shown that cerebellar dysfunction can attenuate the experience of positive emotions. While these same studies do not show an attenuated response to frightening stimuli, the stimuli did not recruit structures that normally would be activated (such as the amydal). Rather, alternative limbic structures were activated, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate gyrus, and the insula. This may indicate that evolutionary pressure resulted in the development of the cerebellum as a redundant fear-mediating circuit to enhance survival. It may also indicate a regulatory role for the cerebellum in the neural response to rewarding stimuli, such as money[9], drugs of abuse[10], and orgasm.
Relationship to cognitive neuroscience
In its broadest sense, cognition refers to all mental processes. However, the study of cognition has historically excluded emotion and focused on non-emotional processes (e.g., memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery)[12]. As a result, the study of the neural basis of non-emotional and emotional processes emerged as two separate fields: cognitive neuroscience and affective neuroscience. The distinction between non-emotional and emotional processes is now thought to be largely artificial, as the two types of processes often involve overlapping neural and mental mechanisms[13]. Thus, when cognition is taken at its broadest definition, affective neuroscience could also be called the cognitive neuroscience of emotion.
Affective Neuroscience and Learning
There are many ways affect plays a role during learning. Recently, affective neuroscience has done much to discover this role. Deep, emotional attachment to a subject area allows a deeper understanding of the material and therefore, learning occurs and lasts [14]. When reading, the emotions one is feeling in comparison to the emotions being portrayed in the content affects ones comprehension. Someone who is feeling sad will understand a sad passage better than someone feeling happy [15]. Therefore, a student’s emotion plays a big role during the learning process. Emotion can also be embodied or perceived from words read on a page or a person’s facial expression. Neuroimaging studies using fMRI have demonstrated that the same area of the brain being activated when one is feeling disgust is also activated when one observes another person feeling disgust [16]. In a traditional learning environment, the teacher’s facial expression can play a critical role in students’ language acquisition. Showing a fearful facial expression when reading passages that contain fearful tones facilitates students learning of the meaning of certain vocabulary words and comprehension of the passage
Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological systems implement social processes and behavior, and to using biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social processes and behavior. Humans are fundamentally a social species, rather than individualists. As such, Homo sapiens create emergent organizations beyond the individual—structures that range from dyads, families, and groups to cities, civilizations, and cultures. These emergent structures evolved hand in hand with neural and hormonal mechanisms to support them because the consequent social behaviors helped these organisms survive, reproduce, and care for offspring sufficiently long that they too survived to reproduce. The term “social neuroscience” can be traced to a publication entitled “Social Neuroscience Bulletin” that was published quarterly between 1988 and 1994. The term was subsequently popularized in an article by John Cacioppo and Gary Berntson, published in the American Psychologist in 1992.[1] Cacioppo and Berntson are considered as the legitimate fathers of social neuroscience. Still a young field, social neuroscience is closely related to affective neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience, focusing on how the brain mediates social interactions.
Traditional neuroscience has for many years considered the nervous system as an isolated entity and largely ignored influences of the social environments in which humans and many animal species live. In fact, we now recognize the considerable impact of social structures on the operations of the brain and body. These social factors operate on the individual through a continuous interplay of neural, neuroendocrine, metabolic and immune factors on brain and body, in which the brain is the central regulatory organ and also a malleable target of these factors.[3] Social neuroscience investigates the biological mechanisms that underlie social processes and behavior, widely considered one of the major problem areas for the neurosciences in the 21st century, and applies concepts and methods of biology to develop theories of social processes and behavior in the social and behavioral sciences. Social neuroscience capitalizes on biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social behavior, and it uses social and behavioral constructs and data to advance theories of neural organization and function.[4][5]
Throughout most of the 20th century, social and biological explanations were widely viewed as incompatible. But advances in recent years have led to the development of a new approach synthesized from the social and biological sciences. The new field of social neuroscience emphasizes the complementary relationship between the different levels of organization, spanning the social and biological domains (e.g., molecular, cellular, system, person, relational, collective, societal) and the use of multi-level analyses to foster understanding of the mechanisms underlying the human mind and behavior.
Methods
A number of methods are used in social neuroscience to investigate the confluence of neural and social processes (drawing from behavioral techniques developed in social psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology), associated with a variety of neurobiological techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation, event-related potentials, electrocardiograms, electromyograms, endocrinology, galvanic skin response, and studies of focal brain lesion patients.[6][7][8] Animal models are also important to investigate the putative role of specific brain structures, circuits, or processes (e.g., the reward system and drug addiction). In addition, quantitative meta-analyses are important to move beyond idiosyncrasies of individual studies, and neurodevelopmental investigations can contribute to our understanding of brain-behavior associations.
Associative Sequence Learning (ASL) explains how mirror neurons are able to match observed and performed actions, and how individuals (adults, children, animals) are able to imitate body movements. The theory was proposed by Cecilia Heyes in 2000. Its central principle is that associations between sensory and motor representations are acquired ontogenetically (i.e. acquired during development), as a result of correlated sensorimotor experience. Consider the example of an actor clenching their fist. In this situation the activation of the motor representation (the motor plan to clench fist) is often paired with the corresponding perceptual representation (the sight of a closed fist). Heyes proposes that, over time, a bidirectional associative link is formed such that activation of one representation excites the other. Put simply, as a consequence of paired ‘doing’ and ‘seeing’ links are established which allow action observation to prime action execution.
In the above example, correlated sensorimotor experience is provided by self-observation. However, this cannot explain the development of sensorimotor associations for so-called ‘perceptually opaque’ actions. These are actions which cannot be observed by the actor, and include facial expressions, and whole body actions (e.g. a tennis serve). Heyes proposes two other sources of sensorimotor experience to account for the emergence of associations for opaque actions; experience mediated by mirror reflections, and the experience of being imitated by others. When an actor smiles in the mirror, his reflection smiles back. Consequently, a motor representation (“smile”) is paired with the corresponding sensory representation (the sight of a smiling face). Similarly, there is considerable evidence that parents imitate young infants.[6]. Thus when an infant ‘stumbles across’ the motor plan to frown, this may be paired with the sight of a parent’s frowning face. Other sources of correlated sensorimotor experience may also include synchronous action (in dance and sports contexts where actors are executing and observing similar actions) and acquired equivalence experience (where an action excites a visual representation, via a shared auditory representation).
A further defining characteristic of the ASL model is its claim that the development of sensorimotor links is mediated by the same mechanisms of associative learning that produce Pavlovian conditioning. Crucially, Heyes therefore proposes that the development of sensorimotor associations is not only sensitive to temporal contiguity (the extent to which activation of sensory and motor representations a close together in time) but also to contingency (the extent to which activation of one representation is predictive of the other). This is a crucial feature of the ASL model as it explains why actors do not acquire spurious sensorimotor associations. Consider the example of two interactants, one of whom is scratching his ear when his colleague sneezes. Learning-based models which do not stipulate a sensitivity to contingency[7] predict that the motor plan for ear-scratching ought to become associated with the visual representation of sneezing! However, ASL predicts that no association will develop because the act of ear-scratching is not predictive of the sight of sneezing - in other words there is no sensorimotor contingency.
The evidence
Neuroimaging studies suggest that the human mirror system is sensitive to sensorimotor experience. Specifically, it appears that mirror system activation is greater when an observer has related motor expertise.[8][9] For example, a stronger fMRI response was observed in classic mirror areas (premotor, parietal and posterior superior temporal sulcus) when ballet experts observed ballet sequences, than when they viewed matched capoeira stimuli. The fact that mirror system activation is sensitive to sensorimotor expertise, provides a strong indication that the properties of mirror neurons are acquired through learning.
Heyes and colleagues have also shown that a number of imitative effects, thought to be mediated by the mirror system, may be reversed through periods of ‘counter-mirror’ sensorimotor training. For example, humans are typically quicker at making imitative responses relative to comparable non-imitative responses. This effect is widely believed to be a product of the human mirror system: Action observation is thought to excite a subset of the premotor neurons responsible for the execution of an action, thus priming execution of the matching response. However, following periods of training during which the execution of one action (e.g. hand open) is paired with the observation of another action (e.g. hand close) the reaction time advantage for imitative responses may be abolished[10]. Similar counter-mirror training has also been shown to reverse classic mirror system effects observed with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)[11] and functional imaging[12] paradigms.
As predicted by associative learning theory, and therefore by the ASL model, this learning is sensitive to sensorimotor contingency (i.e. the degree to which excitation of one representation predicts the excitation of the other). When there is no contingency between sensory and motor representations; for example, when action execution is equally likely both in the presence and absence of the counter-mirror visual stimulus, little or no learning is observed. An operant conditioning chamber (also known as the Skinner box) is a laboratory apparatus used in the experimental analysis of behavior to study animal behavior. The operant conditioning chamber was created by B. F. Skinner while he was a graduate student at Harvard University (Masters in 1930 and doctorate in 1931). It is used to study both operant conditioning and classical conditioning.
An operant conditioning chamber permits experimenters to study behavior conditioning (training) by teaching a subject animal to perform certain actions (like pressing a lever) in response to specific stimuli, like a light or sound signal. When the subject correctly performs the behavior, the chamber mechanism delivers food or another reward. In some cases, the mechanism delivers a punishment for incorrect or missing responses. With this apparatus, experimenters perform studies in conditioning and training through reward/punishment mechanisms.
Structure
The structure forming the shell of a chamber is a box large enough to easily accommodate the organism being used as a subject. (Commonly used model organisms include rodents—usually lab rats—pigeons, and primates). It is often sound-proof and light-proof to avoid distracting stimuli.
Operant chambers have at least one operandum (or “manipulandum”), and often two or more, that can automatically detect the occurrence of a behavioral response or action. Typical operanda for primates and rats are response levers; if the subject presses the lever, the opposite end moves and closes a switch that is monitored by a computer or other programmed device. Typical operanda for pigeons and other birds are response keys with a switch that closes if the bird pecks at the key with sufficient force. The other minimal requirement of a conditioning chamber is that it has a means of delivering a primary reinforcer or unconditioned stimulus like food (usually pellets) or water. It can also register the delivery of a conditioned reinforcer, such as an LED (see Jackson & Hackenberg 1996 in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior for example) signal as a “token”.
Despite such a simple configuration, one operandum and one feeder, it is possible to investigate many psychological phenomena. Modern operant conditioning chambers typically have many operanda, like many response levers, two or more feeders, and a variety of devices capable of generating many stimuli, including lights, sounds, music, figures, and drawings. Some configurations use an LCD panel for the computer generation of a variety of visual stimuli.
Operant chambers can also have electrified nets or floors so that electrical charges can be given to the animals; or lights of different colors that give information about when the food is available. Although the use of shock is not unheard of, approval may be needed in some countries to avoid unnecessary harmful experimentation on animals. Skinner’s work did not focus on punishment, and involved a “paw slap” which caused him to conclude, incorrectly, that punishment was ineffective. Works by Azrin, Sidman and others in the 1960s and 1970s showed this was not the case.
Research impact
Skinner’s operant chamber allowed him to explore the rate of response as a dependent variable, as well as develop his theory of schedules of reinforcement. The first operant chambers were attached to cumulative records on drums producing characteristic pauses, scallops, and other lines. Operant conditioning chambers have become common in a variety of research disciplines including behavioral pharmacology, and whose results inform many disciplines outside of psychology such as behavioral economics.
Application to Games
Slot machines and online games are sometimes cited[1][2] as examples of human devices that use sophisticated operant schedules of reinforcement to reward repetitive actions.[3] However, others have also critiqued the application of skinner boxes to game design as incomplete and uninformed by an understanding of evolutionary psychology.[4]
—————-“Naturally because these studies are classified…
Behaviorism (or behaviourism), also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior), is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns.[1][2] The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind.[3] Behaviorism comprises the position that all theories should have observational correlates but that there are no philosophical differences between publicly observable processes (such as actions) and privately observable processes (such as thinking and feeling).
From early psychology in the 19th century, the behaviorist school of thought ran concurrently and shared commonalities with the psychoanalytic and Gestalt movements in psychology into the 20th century; but also differed from the mental philosophy of the Gestalt psychologists in critical ways.[5] Its main influences were Ivan Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning although he did not necessarily agree with behaviorism or behaviorists, Edward Lee Thorndike, John B. Watson who rejected introspective methods and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who conducted research on operant conditioning.[4]
In the second half of the 20th century, behaviorism was largely eclipsed as a result of the cognitive revolution. While behaviorism and cognitive schools of psychological thought may not agree theoretically, they have complemented each other in practical therapeutic applications, such as in cognitive–behavioral therapy that has demonstrable utility in treating certain pathologies, such as simple phobias, PTSD, and addiction. In addition, behaviorism sought to create a comprehensive model of the stream of behavior from the birth of the human to his death (see Behavior analysis of child development).
Radical behaviorism is a philosophy developed by B.F. Skinner that underlies the experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology. The term radical behaviorism applies to a particular school that emerged during the reign of behaviorism. However, radical behaviorism bears little resemblance to other schools of behaviorism, differing in the acceptance of mediating structures, the role of private events and emotions, and other areas.
Radical behaviorism has attracted attention since its inception. First, it proposes that all organismic action is determined and not free. However, there are deterministic elements in much of psychology. Second, it is considered to be “anti-theoretical,” although this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of theory in a radically inductive scientific position, which rejects hypothetico-deductive methods and theory construction about things in unobservable, unmeasurable “other places” (such as the mind).
Natural science
Radical behaviorism inherits from behaviorism the position that the science of behavior is a natural science, a belief that animal behavior can be studied profitably and compared with human behavior, a strong emphasis on the environment as cause of behavior, and a penchant for operationalizing. Its principal differences are an emphasis on operant conditioning, use of idiosyncratic terminology (jargon), a tendency to apply notions of reinforcement to philosophy and daily life and, particularly, an emphasis on private experience.
Radical behaviorism embraces the genetic and biological endowment and ultimately evolved nature of the organism, while simply asserting that behavior is a distinct field of study with its own value. From this two neglected points emerge: radical behaviorism is thoroughly compatible with biological and evolutionary approaches to psychology—in fact, as a proper part of biology—and radical behaviorism does not involve the claim that organisms are tabula rasa, without genetic or physiological endowment.
Skinner’s psychological work focused on operant conditioning, with emphasis on the schedule of reinforcement as an independent variable, and the rate of responding as a dependent variable. Operant techniques are a venerable part of the toolbox of the psychobiologist, and many neurobiological theories—particularly regarding drug addiction—have made extensive use of reinforcement. Operant methodology and terminology have been used in much research on animal perception and concept formation—with the same topics, such as stimulus generalization, bearing importantly on operant conditioning. Skinner’s emphasis on outcomes and response rates naturally lends itself to topics typically left to economics, as in behavioral economics. The field of operant conditioning can also be seen to interact with work on decision-making, and had influence on AI and cognitive science.
The basics: operant psychology
Skinner saw that classical conditioning didn’t account for the behavior most of us are interested in, such as riding a bike or writing a book. His observations led him to propose a theory about how these and similar behaviors, called operants, come about.
Roughly speaking, in operant conditioning, an operant is actively emitted and produces changes in the world (i.e., produces consequences) that alter the likelihood that the behavior will occur again.
As represented in the table below, operant conditioning has two basic purposes (increasing or decreasing the probability that a specific behavior will occur in the future), which are accomplished by adding or removing one of two basic types of stimuli, positive/pleasant or negative/aversive.
In other words:
If the probability of a behavior is increased as a consequence of the presentation of a stimulus, that stimulus is a positive reinforcer (R+).
If the probability of a behavior is increased as a consequence of the withdrawal of a stimulus, that stimulus is a negative reinforcer (R−).
If the probability of a behavior is decreased as a consequence of the presentation of a stimulus, that stimulus is a positive punisher (P+).
If the probability of a behavior is decreased as a consequence of the withdrawal of a stimulus, that stimulus is a negative punisher or response cost punishment (P−).
Negative reinforcement and punishment are often confused. It is important to note that a reinforcer is anything that increases the likelihood that a behavior will happen again. A punisher will always decrease behavior.
Instrumental conditioning is another term for operant conditioning that is most closely associated with scientists who studied learning that occurred over discrete trials, such as runs through a maze. Skinner pioneered the free operant technique, where organisms could respond at any time during a protracted experimental session. Thus Skinner’s dependent variable was usually the frequency or rate of responding, not the errors that were made or the speed of traversal of a maze.
Operant conditioning tells something about the future of the organism: That in the future, the reinforced behavior will be likely to occur more often.
Common misunderstandings
Although there are many valid criticisms of Skinner’s work, many textbooks and theorists like Noam Chomsky label Skinnerian or radical behaviorism as S–R (stimulus–response, or to use Skinner’s term, “respondent”), or Pavlovian psychology, and argue that this limits the approach. Although contemporary psychology rejects many of Skinner’s conclusions, his work into operant conditioning which emphasizes the importance of consequences in modifying discriminative responses is useful when combined with current understandings about the uniqueness of evolved human thought over other animals.
Many textbooks argue that radical behaviorism maintains the position that animals (including humans) are passive receivers of conditioning, failing to take into account that:
operant behavior is titled operant because it operates on the environment
operant behavior is emitted, not elicited: Animals act on the environment and the environment acts back on them, or
the consequence of a behavior can itself be a stimulus; one needs not present anything for shaping to take place.
Radical behaviorism is often dismissed as logical positivism. Skinnerians maintain that Skinner was not a logical positivist and recognized the importance of thought as behavior. This position is made quite clear in About Behaviorism.[6] A clearer position for radical behaviorism seems to be the movement known philosophically as American pragmatism.
Explaining behavior and the importance of the environment
John B. Watson argued against the use of references to mental states and held that psychology should study behavior directly, holding private events as impossible to study scientifically. Skinner rejected this position conceding the importance of thinking, feelings and “inner behavior” in his analysis. Skinner did not hold to truth by agreement, as Watson did, so he was not limited by observation.
In Watson’s days (and in Skinner’s early days), it was held that psychology was at a disadvantage as a science because behavioral explanations should take physiology into account. Very little was known about physiology at the time. Skinner argued that behavioral explanations of psychological phenomena are “just as true” as physiological explanations. In arguing this, he took a non-reductionistic approach to psychology. Skinner, however, redefined behavior to include “everything that an organism does,” including thinking, feeling and speaking and argued that these phenomena were valid subject matters. (The challenge was that objective observation and measurement was often impossible.) The term radical behaviorism refers to just this: that everything an organism does is a behavior.
However, Skinner ruled out thinking and feeling as valid explanations of behavior. The reasoning is this:
Thinking and feeling are not epiphenomena nor have they any other special status, and are just more behavior to explain. Explaining behavior by referring to thought or feelings are pseudo-explanations because they merely point to more behavior to be explained. Skinner proposed environmental factors as proper causes of behavior because: Environmental factors are at a different logical level than behavior
One can manipulate behavior by manipulating the environment
This holds only for explaining the class of behaviors known as operant behaviors. This class of behavior Skinner held as the most interesting study matter.
Many textbooks, in noting the emphasis Skinner places on the environment, argue that Skinner held that the organism is a blank slate or a tabula rasa. Skinner wrote extensively on the limits and possibilities nature places on conditioning. Conditioning is implemented in the body as a physiological process and is subject to the current state, learning history, and history of the species. Skinner does not consider people a blank slate, or tabula rasa.[8]
Many textbooks seem to confuse Skinner’s rejection of physiology with Watson’s rejection of private events. It is true to some extent that Skinner’s psychology considers humans a black box, since Skinner maintains that behavior can be explained without taking into account what goes on in the organism. However, the black box is not private events, but physiology. Skinner considers physiology as useful, interesting, valid, etc., but not necessary for operant behavioral theory and research.
Private events in a radical behaviorist account
Radical behaviorism differs from other forms of behaviorism in that it treats everything we do as behavior, including private events such as thinking and feeling. Unlike John B. Watson’s behaviorism, private events are not dismissed as “epiphenomena,” but are seen as subject to the same principles of learning and modification as have been discovered to exist for overt behavior. Although private events are not publicly observable behaviors, radical behaviorism accepts that we are each observers of our own private behavior.
Many textbooks, in emphasizing that Skinner held behavior to be the proper subject matter of psychology, fail to clarify Skinner’s position and implicitly or even explicitly posit that Skinner ruled out the study of private events as unscientific. This is Watson’s position, not Skinner’s.
Once they take control of your mind, world is made of all the projections they have created for you. Identification with given models, makes you accept these programs. What does not belong to your experience, or eventually comes from other lives, is finally accepted.
In neuroscience, the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects. The neurological reward system is part of what makes reinforcement possible.
Psychological reward
A psychological reward is a process that reinforces behavior — something that, when offered, causes a behavior to increase in intensity. Reward is an operational concept for describing the positive value an individual ascribes to an object, behavioral act or an internal physical state. Natural rewards include those that are necessary for the survival of species, such as eating, drinking, sex, and fighting.[1]
Secondary rewards derive their value from the primary reward, and include shelter, money, pleasant touch, beauty, music, etc. The functions of rewards are based directly on the modification of behavior and indirectly on the sensory properties of rewards. For instance, altruism may induce a larger psychological reward, although it doesn’t cause sensations. Rewards are generally considered more effective than punishment in enforcing positive behavior.[2]
Rewards induce learning, approach behavior and feelings of positive emotions.
History of discovery
Skinner box
In a fundamental discovery made in 1954, Canadian researchers James Olds and Peter Milner found that stimulation of certain regions of the brain of the rat acted as a reward in teaching the animals to run mazes and solve problems.[3][4] The conclusion from such experiments is that low-voltage electrical stimulation in cetain parts of the brain gives the animals pleasure.[3] Animals were tested in Skinner boxes where they could stimulate themselves by pressing a lever, the rats would repeatedly press the lever — even up to 2000 times per hour.[4] Research in the next two decades established that dopamine is one of the main chemicals aiding neural signaling in these regions, and dopamine was suggested to be the brain’s “pleasure chemical.”
Anatomy
The major neurochemical pathway of the reward system in the brain involves the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathway. Of these pathways, the mesolimbic pathway plays the major role, and goes from the ventral tegmental area via the medial forebrain bundle to nucleus accumbens, which is the primary release site for the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine acts on D1 or D2 receptors to either stimulate (D1) or inhibit (D2) the production of cAMP.
Modulation by drugs Drug addiction
Almost all drugs causing drug addiction increase the dopamine release in the mesolimbic pathway[6], e.g. opioids, nicotine, amphetamine, ethanol and cocaine. After prolonged use, psychological drug tolerance and sensitization arises.
Psychological drug tolerance
The reward system is partly responsible for the psychological part of drug tolerance. One explanation of this is a sustained activation of the CREB protein, causing a larger dose to be needed to reach the same effect.
Sensitization
Sensitization is an increase in the user’s sensitivity to the effects of the substance, counter to the effects of CREB. A transcription factor, known as delta FosB, is thought to be involved by activating genes that causes sensitization. The hypersensitivity that it causes is thought to be responsible for the intense cravings associated with drug addiction, and is often extended to even the peripheral cues of drug use, such as related behaviors or the sight of drug paraphernalia.
Every acceleration produces a tension. Every tension produces shocks that create emotional waves and tension that move bio energies downwards towards your tommy, contracting it and subsequently freeing these spasms through laughter or fear. Muscles contract again, and the mechanism starts again, building up higher and higher tensions that are never solved. This is a jojo mechanism that you will find in tv programs, movies, radio, speeches, games, etc… Once this kind of negative tensions starts to oscillate up and down trough you body, from 1st to 6th chakra, you will be trapped in realities that do not belong to you and which will take control over your reactions, making you vibrate at the same rhythm other people are emotionally vibrating in the room, the cinema, the arena, the theater, the city, the square, the nation, the world, etc… Stop feeding the Egregore. Shut your eyes and listen to tv. You will inevitably hear someone shouting. Once you are emotionally inside the “mental cage”, you become a part of it. This is the voice of pain, sorrow, hate and other negative feelings that create disharmony. The news, at 8 am 10am 12am 1pm 5pm 6pm 7pm 8pm 8.30pm 10pm 12pm !!! Open your eyes. What’s happening Who are you? Switch tv off and relax. Reiterated tensions that work continuously in kali yuga never stop. Create peace inside your heart. Create peace around you. You are the temple. Purify your mind, thoughts and heart. Now listen to silence again. Meditate. Sense the difference. I tried to explain scientifically what’s going on, though I wanted you to understand these concepts from a Metaphysical point of view. Media streams are emotionally corrupted, so take care of what they are transferring to You whilst you are watching and listening passively. If you sense what I was trying to tell You, i reached the point. Silence cures. Meditation helps. Prayer and mantras of any kind work. Harmonic mandala and yantra are good shields. Written meditations and spiritual teaching help your spirit and you soul. Peaceful places are what you need. Love, and a great hug. Nature and sleep. You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one… …practice abstinence….
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical considerations. Abstinence may also refer to drugs. For example you can abstain from smoking. Abstinence has diverse forms. Commonly it refers to a temporary or partial abstinence from food, as in fasting.
Abstinence from corrupted media and dualistic thought is one of the sacred paths you can follow to reach harmony. Take a walk on your footsteps.
Amonakur
