326 research outputs found
Current and potential pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for anxiety symptoms and disorders in patients with schizophrenia: structured review
No full textCapacity for cortical excitation is reduced in psychotic disorders:: an investigation of the TMS-EMG cortical silent period
No full textOnline manipulation: Charting the field
No full textThis chapter provides an overview of the key debates and concepts relevant to online manipulation. First, it introduces and critically discusses three preliminary methodological questions concerning the method used to study manipulation (online), the normative charge of the concept, and the level and type of intentionality required to manipulate. Second, it critically discusses the most prominent philosophical approaches to the study of manipulation, distinguishing process-, outcome- and norm-based views of manipulation. Third, it introduces the notion of an “aggravating factor”, which is a factor that can make online manipulation more effective, its effects worse or morally wrong, or makes it harder for individuals to avoid or contest manipulative practices and technologies. Under this header, we will discuss personalization, opacity, flow, lack of user control, and an organization’s moral compass.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog
Child sexual abuse and the court system
No full textThis dissertation presents the findings of a Personal Research Project undertaken by the author in Hampshire, between 1997 and 1999. The study is a qualitative one, which seeks the personal accounts of young people testifying in Crown Courts concerning sexual abuse. Interviews were conducted with sixteen young witnesses, aged from 7 to 17 at the time of their court appearances, who had testified at the trial of their own alleged sexual abuse perpetrator. Despite a quantity of recent juridical reforms intended to improve children's court expenecnes during testimony against defendants, which led to increased numbers of prosecutions, conviction rates remain low, particularly for indictments against alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse. Previous quantitative evaluations have considered the effects of the changes, but small amounts of research only have taken place concerning the impact of the judicial process on the young people themselves. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that the court process has major negative consequences upon children. This investigation, regarded by the author to be a feminist study, was carried out using a grounded, reflexive approach. Young people were approached via the Court Witness Service. Those content to participate were personally interviewed in depth by the author about their experiences of giving evidence; their feelings and impacts upon them of testifying, and the changes in the process they would welcome. Data collected evidenced participants' major trauma as a result of their court treatment, often occasioned as a result of the mode of defence questioning. Poor practice emerged as a consequence of weak advocacy by the prosecution, inadequate court organisation, delays in listing, unforeseen adjournments and legal argument - as well as resulting from pre-court investigations. Young witnesses' personal anxieties and lack of knowledge concerning the evidence process all contributed to generally poorly rated experiences. Predominantly, the after effects of the process continued negatively for youngsters, and a substantial minority self-harmed significantly as a result of court traumas. Data analyses suggest a feminist (post) post structuralist approach may be helpful in identifying, modelling and explaining various power differentials which embroil young females and males in the power struggles inherent in criminal indictments against more powerful abusers. Study results suggest a need for major reform: a requirement for best quality court practice, as well as for significant attitudinal changes toward young people, leading to anti-discriminatory practice which addresses the term coined as 'youthism' as a major oppressive practice, targetting anyone who is 'not-man'. A range of issues concerning child-centredness, power and sexuality is discussed, and their impacts upon justice is argued. As a result of the study, the development of theoretical perspectives concerning young people's evidence giving has been attempted, which may loosely be described as feminist post-post-structuralist approaches. The accompanying theoretical discussion may go some way to account for the impact upon children, of the justice system and the criminal court process.</p
Introduction and overview of chapters
No full textThis chapter introduces the themes and questions addressed in this volume on the philosophy of online manipulation. It lays out the reasons for considering that online manipulation is an intellectually interesting and practically problematic phenomenon and raises the questions of whether online manipulation differs from other types of manipulation. It then introduces briefly the 19 chapters in the volume.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog
Electroencephalographic delta/alpha frequency activity differentiates psychotic disorders: a study of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder
No full textElectroencephalography (EEG) has been proposed as a neurophysiological biomarker to delineate psychotic disorders. It is known that increased delta and decreased alpha, which are apparent in psychosis, are indicative of inappropriate arousal state, which leads to reduced ability to attend to relevant information. On this premise, we investigated delta/alpha frequency activity, as this ratio of frequency activity may serve as an effective neurophysiological biomarker. The current study investigated differences in delta/alpha frequency activity, in schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar I disorder with psychotic features and methamphetamine-induced psychosis. One hundred and nine participants, including individuals with SCZ (n = 28), bipolar I disorder with psychotic features (n = 28), methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder (MPD) (n = 24) and healthy controls (CON, n = 29). Diagnosis was ascertained with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition disorders and current medication was recorded. EEG was undertaken in three testing conditions: resting eyes open, resting eyes closed and during completion of a simple cognitive task (visual continuous performance task). EEG delta/alpha frequency activity was investigated across these conditions. First, delta/alpha frequency activity during resting eyes closed was higher in SCZ and MPD globally, when compared to CON, then lower for bipolar disorder (BPD) than MPD for right hemisphere. Second, delta/alpha frequency activity during resting eyes open was higher in SCZ, BPD and MPD for all electrodes, except left frontal, when compared to CON. Third, delta/alpha frequency activity during the cognitive task was higher in BPD and MPD for all electrodes, except left frontal, when compared to CON. Assessment of EEG delta/alpha frequency activity supports the delineation of underlying neurophysiological mechanisms present in psychotic disorders, which are likely related to dysfunctional thalamo-cortical connectivity. Delta/alpha frequency activity may provide a useful neurophysiological biomarker to delineate psychotic disorders
The interruption and deconstruction of lure through ‘play fake’ behaviours using the en vivo leadership time-phased intervention methodology to affirm children’s agency when under online predatorial duress.
No full textAntecedents of behaviours associated with play have been linked with the ‘seeking system’, a primary process evolved from a mammalian need for survival (Wright & Panksepp, 2012). This neurobiological activity houses instinct and intuition, and evolves to curiosity. A case is made for working alongside this inquisitive driver to support children's natural maturation through play which is activated in real world surroundings and arguably replicated by/in aspects of virtual play.
To build decision making capability, resourcefulness and resilience for a child’s playtime online, a metacognitive model is adopted where metacognition concerns the capacity of awareness of cognitive processes and their regulation (Fleur, Bredeweg & van den Bos, 2021). By implementing the (adapted) en vivo leadership methodology (Murray, 2006; 2020), a dynamic phase characterised by contextual uncertainty for the child subjected to intrapersonal instability due to online susceptibility, will be scrutinised. Salient online experiences will be collated and used to inform the design of a workshop to (further) equip play caretakers in their facilitation of children's assured online play, and to underpin the development of children's agency by fortifying their critical thinking skills in the role of play participant.
Sources:
Fleur, D.S., Bredeweg, B. & van den Bos, W. Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro- and educational sciences. npj Sci. Learn. 6, 13 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00089-5.
Murray, P.F. (2006). En Vivo Leadership. MA in Leadership Studies Published Thesis. University of Exeter Business School. Exeter Centre for Leadership.
Murray, P.F. (2020). Deconstructing the realm of the dilemma during leadership. In: Cocreating the Future for our Professional Practice: Leadership, Coaching, Mentoring and Supervision. European Mentoring & Coaching Council Global Provider Summit, 24th -25th Nov. 2020.
Murray, P. F. & Murray, A.M. (2024) An integrative design for equipping caretakers & staffs performance acuity & empathy to match the demands of children’s navigating the electric playground. In: Interpersonal Relationships & Wellbeing Research Group Conference: Discover & Connect, 7th November 2024, St John’s Campus, University of Worcester.
Wright, J.S. & Panksepp, J. (2012). An Evolutionary Framework to Understand Foraging, Wanting, and Desire: The Neuropsychology of the SEEKING System. Neuropsychoanalysis, 2012:14 (1)
Investigating cortical arousal and cognition in schizophrenia and methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder: an electroencephalography and cytokine study
No full textIntroduction: Schizophrenia (SCZ) and methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder (MPD), are psychotic disorders characterized by positive symptoms (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), negative symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal, apathy), and impaired cognitive function. Despite the overlap in the clinical presentation of SCZ and MPD, no studies have compared electroencephalography (EEG) and inflammation across these two conditions. This study aimed to investigate key differences in brain electrical activity on EEG between SCZ and MPD by investigating; (1) relative frequency (alpha, theta, beta and delta) at rest; (2) cognitive performance and relative frequency activity during the continuous performance task (CPT) and cued target detection task (CTD); (3) differences in the P300 event-related potential waveform (ERP), a measure of attention, during the CPT and CTD; (4) cognitive performance and relative frequency and ERP (N170, P300) during the STROOP task, a measure of working memory and executive function; (5) the associations of (neuro) inflammatory markers with relative frequency and the P300 ERP waveform. Methods: 104 South African individuals, between the ages of 20 and 45 years, participated in this study: 69 outpatients (38 with SCZ (8 females/30 males), 31 with MPD (7 females/24 males)), and 35 healthy controls (CON: 15 females/20 males). All participants underwent a Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic Systematic Manual-IV (SCID-DSM-IV), with modifications to include changes made in DSM-5. EEG band frequency oscillations were recorded during baseline conditions: resting eyes open and resting eyes closed, and cognitive tasks (CPT, CTD and the Stroop task). Blood was drawn via venepuncture and serum was used for the analysis of cytokines (interleukin (IL) -1β IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)) concentrations. Statistical analysis included assessment of normality using the Shapiro- Wilk test, with univariate one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of parametric data, and multiple independent Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA for non-parametric data (p
Differences in visual attention processing: An event-related potential comparative analysis within psychotic disorders
No full text>Magister Scientiae - MScINTRODUCTION: Sustained attention is known to be dysfunctional in psychotic disorders. Sustained attention is the ability to remain focused on a specific time-locked stimulus within a task. We aimed to determine whether there are specific group differences between CON and three psychotic disorders: SCZ, MPD and BPD, then to determine differences between these psychotic disorders. This included differences in behavioural performance and prominent electrophysiological event-related potential (ERP) wave components during cueing and target processing of a visual sustained attention task. Further we aimed to characterize ERP waveform component relationships across and within these groups for demographics, substance use, behavioural performance, and clinical variables, the last limited to the psychotic groups. Lastly, we investigated the effects of prescribed medications on ERP wave components within the psychotic groups.
METHODOLOGY: 103 participants (29 schizophrenia (SCZ), 28 bipolar disorder with a history of psychosis (BPD), 21 methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder (MPD), and 30 controls (CON)) underwent electroencephalography (EEG) record while completing a visual continuous performance task. Participants were presented with 60 trials with three consecutive S’s, the presentation of the third S required a behavioural response. Prominent ERP waveform components were extracted from cues and target stimulus. Group differences were determined by ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc correction or multivariate Kruskal-Wallis test dependent on data distribution. Relationships between ERP wave components were determined appropriate with Spearman’s Rank order correlation analyses.
RESULTS: (1) MPD reported higher use of substances compared to CON, SCZ and BPD. SCZ behavioural performance was poorer compared to CON which was shown by their longer response times, reduced accuracy and increased errors of omission. Clinically, MPD was found to have a shorter duration of illness compared to SCZ. Then SCZ was found to have more positive symptoms compared to BPD whereas BPD had more negative symptoms compared to SCZ. For the first cue, wave component differences were found only over the left hemisphere, for P100 amplitude over the frontal cortex, P300 amplitude over the central cortex, and N170 amplitude over the parietal cortex. For the presentation of the second cue, differences noted for all groups were localised to the frontal and central brain regions, for P100 and N170 ERP waveforms. For the target stimulus wave component differences were found over the prefrontal, frontal and parietal brain regions, within CON, SCZ, BPD and MPD. (2) For the first cue, education positively correlated with the N170 left parietal amplitude in CON and P300 right parietal amplitude in MPD. During the second cue, the left parietal N170 latency in SCZ correlated positively with education and the left central P300 latency correlated negatively with education in MPD. The age on the day of testing correlated positively with the target left frontal P300 latency in MPD. For the first cue, substance use positively correlated with the left and right parietal P300 latency and negatively for the right parietal P100 amplitude in SCZ. In MPD, a negative correlation was noted across left and right prefrontal N170 and P300 amplitudes, and positive correlation for the left prefrontal P300 latency in MPD. For the target stimulus, correlations were evident for the left and right parietal N70, N170 amplitudes, P300 latency, the right parietal P100 amplitude and left central P300 latency in SCZ. For the first cue, in SCZ PANSS total score correlated positively with left and right central P300 amplitudes and the left parietal P300 amplitude. For the second cue; in MPD, the PANSS negative symptom score, positively correlated with the P100 and N170 left parietal amplitude, left and right parietal P150 amplitude, left central and right parietal P300 amplitude. For the target, the Hamilton depression rating scale correlated positively with the left and right frontal P300 amplitude in MPD and then negatively with the right parietal P300 amplitude in SCZ. Behavioural performance in CON, positively correlated with the left parietal N70, P100, P150 and N170 amplitude the number of correct responses, and left central N170 amplitude. While the number of impulsive responses correlated negatively with the left parietal N70, P100, P150 and N170 and the left central N170 amplitude of CON. For the second cue, behavioural performance was related to the fronto-parietal relationship across all groups. For the target stimulus, impulsive responses positively correlated with the left parietal N70 latency in SCZ. Overall response time negatively correlated with the right parietal P300 latency for SCZ. (3) Medication was found to affect ERP wave components during the sustained visual attention task. For the first cue FGA’s increased the left central P100 amplitude in both SCZ and BPD and decreased the left parietal P100 amplitude in SCZ only. The use of antipsychotics increased the right parietal N70 and left central P100 amplitudes in BPD, specifically the right prefrontal N170 amplitude was increased with the use of SGA’s. Then clozapine use increased the left frontal P100 amplitude in SCZ. For the second cue, SGA’s decreased the right parietal P150 amplitude in SCZ but in MPD the right parietal P150 amplitude was increased with haloperidol use, and FGA. SGA’s increased the left parietal P300 latency in BPD and sodium valproate decreased the left prefrontal P300 latency. For the target stimulus, SGA’s decreased the right parietal P100, P150 and left parietal P150 amplitudes and increased the left central P300 latency in BPD.
CONCLUSION: (1) sustained attentional performance is poorer in SCZ. Our study adds to previous studies showing attention processing deficits in SCZ, are evident during cueing of a sustained attention tasks; (2) substance use was found to slow cognitive processing, education improved executive function and information processing, and symptom severity was associated with dysfunction of prefrontal and frontal cortices; (3) antipsychotic medication was related to improved processing of salient information. These data support the current literature and provide novel insights to the attentional processing deficits during cueing in the psychotic disorders
Neurocircuitry of attention in methamphetamine induced psychosis: a comparison against schizophrenia patients and healthy controls
No full textBackground Methamphetamine induced psychosis (MAP) and schizophrenia present with similar positive symptoms of psychosis, are characterized by evidence of attentional impairment, and show symptomatic response to treatment with dopamine antagonists. At the same time, MAP is considered a transient condition, while schizophrenia can be conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Despite advances in the neurobiology of these two conditions, the extent to which their underlying attentional neurocircuitry show overlaps or differences has not often been directly compared. This thesis compared MAP, schizophrenia and healthy controls, in order to examine overlap and differences in 1) subcortical regulation of cortical inhibition and excitability, 2) resting state cortical and subcortical connectivity, and the dynamics of rhythmic neural activity between states, and 3) cortical-cortical connectivity using event related potential (ERP) responses to stimuli with a continuous performance task (CPT). Methods Outpatients treated for MAP and schizophrenia were recruited through hospitals and psychiatric institutions in the Western Cape. A final cohort of 24 MAP and 28 schizophrenia and 32 healthy control participants were included in the analyses for this thesis. For the cortical silent period (CSP) paradigm, the participant was asked to maintain isometric contraction between the thumb and index finger while TMS pulses at 120% and 140% resting motor threshold (RMT) were delivered to the primary motor cortical area corresponding to the abductor pollicis brevis (APB). Parameters extracted from CSP data included the latency to motor evoked potential (MEP), MEP amplitude and CSP duration. Electroencephalographs (EEGs) were performed with bilateral prefrontal, frontal, frontal temporal, central and parietal electrode locations. Relative EEG frequency power data were extracted from 3 stages during the EEG session, including states of eyes open, eyes closed, and during performance of the CPT. The CPT consisted of a series of random consonant letters. Participants were asked to respond to the letter "S" with a finger press only if it was the 3rd consecutive occurrence. ERP data were extracted and averaged from consecutive cues (S1 and S2), target (S3) and distractor (individual "S") stimuli in the CPT task. ERP data were analysed for group differences in N100, P200, N200 and P300 amplitudes and latencies at each electrode location with sufficient signal quality. Results In the CSP protocol, MAP and schizophrenia groups showed smaller MEP amplitudes at both 120% and 140% RMT stimulation levels in comparison to controls. Both MAP and schizophrenia groups had lower alpha and higher delta relative frequency band power, with schizophrenia showing significant differences from controls at more electrode positions than MAP. While controls demonstrated a decrease in alpha power between the eyes closed and eyes open resting states, this did not occur in MAP or schizophrenia. During the CPT, both MAP and schizophrenia achieved fewer correct targets and showed slower reaction times than healthy controls. In addition, MAP responded more often than the other two groups to the S2 stimulus (which required response inhixii Abstract bition). ERP analysis found smaller N100, larger P200, larger N200 and larger P300 amplitudes in MAP in response to stimuli requiring inhibition than in schizophrenia and controls, whereas schizophrenia showed longer P300 latencies in response to the target and distractor stimuli than in MAP and controls. Conclusions MEP results suggest that MAP and schizophrenia may have similar subcortical dysregulation, suggestive of altered dopaminergic regulation in the basal ganglia-thalamus-cortex loop. EEG frequency power results suggest that MAP and schizophrenia both display an inflexibility of subcortical systems involved in adaptation to environmental changes, suggesting deficiencies in the CT-TRN-TC loop in both MAP and schizophrenia. CPT performance and the pattern of ERP alterations in MAP suggests greater cholinergic impairment during attentional performance in MAP than in schizophrenia. Taken together, while there is considerable overlap in cortical-subcortical inhibition and connectivity in MAP and schizophrenia, there are also important differences; findings that emphasize both the similarities and dissimilarities that are seen clinically
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