[tips] Snake And Centipede Replay Scene from Alien
A research letter in the journal Ecologica Montenegrina has been picked up by the popular media because it represents an unusual situation: a snake ate a centipede which, once swallowed, proceeded to eat its way out of the snake. Here are some popular media accounts: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10774628/Snake-eats-centipede-that-fought-back.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2607435/Preying-stay-alive-Centipede-tries-eat-way-sanctuary-snakes-stomach.html The research letter can be accessed here: http://ecol-mne.com/ And the PDF for the letter can be downloaded here: http://ecol-mne.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Arsovski-et-al.pdf Nice pix and the title of the letter has an Orwellian reference (from Animal Farm). -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=36215 or send a blank email to leave-36215-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
[tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
The website for Wired has an interesting interview with the researcher Kent Kiehl who has studied psychopaths for 20 years; the interview is here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/ The interview is partly a shill for Kiehl's new book The Psychopath Whisperer which is geared for the general public (i.e., it is a money book, that is, a book a scientist writes not for a limited scientific or academic audience but to appeal to a broad audience and is expect to make a fair amount of money -- most popular science books are money books though not all of them make a lot of money). Anyway, Kiehl has his own mobile MRI scanner (there is a picture of him next to trailer that contains the scanner) so he's not doing too badly. When asked how psychopaths' brain differ from normal brains he says the following: |WIRED: What is known at this point about what's different |about their brains? | |Kiehl: We've found that psychopaths have 5 to 10 percent |reduced gray matter density in and around the limbic regions |[a network deep in the brain that's important for emotional |processing]. We've also found - and a group in Germany |has published a similar finding - that the tissue that connects |the limbic system to the frontal lobes is disrupted. There have |also been lots of studies published showing reduced responsivity |in those circuits during emotional processing and moral decision |making. An interesting question that arises from this research is that a number of psychopaths also engage in serious crimes, such as serial killing and worse (anyone who has read about what Ted Bundy did before and after he killed his female victims will know what I'm talking about) and whether psychopaths should be held responsible for such crimes if they have a brain abnormality. This becomes a critical issue in murder trials and Kiehl was apparently the first to use fMRI evidence for the defense of a man who had raped and killed a 10 year old girl (this was during the sentencing phase because the defendant had pleaded guilty and he was already spending time in jail for other murders he had committed). The prosecutors wanted the death penalty while the defense wanted life in prison. Some details about this trial and the jury's decision can be read here: http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/11/fmri-evidence-used-murder-sentencing The question that arises here is if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities should this condition be treated as insanity (i.e., being unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and not being able to appreciate the consequences of one's actions)? But here is the more important point: even if such a brain abnormality does exist which judgment is more just: (1) life in prison: to keep the person out of open society and hope that prison controls will prevent the psychopath from killing someone within prison or outside of prison by proxy (Kiehl talks about how an imprisoned psychopath that he interviewed thought that he snitched on him and through his network got someone on the outside to try hurt or kill him). or (2) death penalty: if the brain abnormality is not modifiable by various treatments and the psychopath remains a danger to others even while in prison, isn't the best way to minimize future risk is by executing the person? A number of factors (scientific, moral, legal, etc.) enter into this consideration but from a scientific perspective I think that one consideration is the degree to which one really believes in neural plasticity and how modifiable brain structures are if they have been implicated in conditions like psychopathy. If a psychopath turns serial killer and engages in such activity for a long period of time (e.g., Ted Bundy), is there any chance that he can be changed from desiring to kill and do the terrible things he did to not wanting to engages in those behaviors again? The so-called Ludovico technique in the book and movie A Clockwork Orange is a fictional example of such a treatment but is any treatment really possible? If effective treatments for psychopathy can be developed, does it make more sense for putting them in prison for life for crimes like murder? If no effective treatments can be found, does it make more sense to execute them? Or should one be skeptical of neuroscientists peddling their research results and opinions in courts and just not seriously consider them? -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=36217 or send a blank email to leave-36217-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities Cause or effect? Until causality is proven I'd be wary of any sort of legal action. On Apr 18, 2014, at 12:17 PM, Mike Palij wrote: The website for Wired has an interesting interview with the researcher Kent Kiehl who has studied psychopaths for 20 years; the interview is here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/ The interview is partly a shill for Kiehl's new book The Psychopath Whisperer which is geared for the general public (i.e., it is a money book, that is, a book a scientist writes not for a limited scientific or academic audience but to appeal to a broad audience and is expect to make a fair amount of money -- most popular science books are money books though not all of them make a lot of money). Anyway, Kiehl has his own mobile MRI scanner (there is a picture of him next to trailer that contains the scanner) so he's not doing too badly. When asked how psychopaths' brain differ from normal brains he says the following: |WIRED: What is known at this point about what’s different |about their brains? | |Kiehl: We’ve found that psychopaths have 5 to 10 percent |reduced gray matter density in and around the limbic regions |[a network deep in the brain that's important for emotional |processing]. We’ve also found — and a group in Germany |has published a similar finding — that the tissue that connects |the limbic system to the frontal lobes is disrupted. There have |also been lots of studies published showing reduced responsivity |in those circuits during emotional processing and moral decision |making. An interesting question that arises from this research is that a number of psychopaths also engage in serious crimes, such as serial killing and worse (anyone who has read about what Ted Bundy did before and after he killed his female victims will know what I'm talking about) and whether psychopaths should be held responsible for such crimes if they have a brain abnormality. This becomes a critical issue in murder trials and Kiehl was apparently the first to use fMRI evidence for the defense of a man who had raped and killed a 10 year old girl (this was during the sentencing phase because the defendant had pleaded guilty and he was already spending time in jail for other murders he had committed). The prosecutors wanted the death penalty while the defense wanted life in prison. Some details about this trial and the jury's decision can be read here: http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/11/fmri-evidence-used-murder-sentencing The question that arises here is if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities should this condition be treated as insanity (i.e., being unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and not being able to appreciate the consequences of one's actions)? But here is the more important point: even if such a brain abnormality does exist which judgment is more just: (1) life in prison: to keep the person out of open society and hope that prison controls will prevent the psychopath from killing someone within prison or outside of prison by proxy (Kiehl talks about how an imprisoned psychopath that he interviewed thought that he snitched on him and through his network got someone on the outside to try hurt or kill him). or (2) death penalty: if the brain abnormality is not modifiable by various treatments and the psychopath remains a danger to others even while in prison, isn't the best way to minimize future risk is by executing the person? A number of factors (scientific, moral, legal, etc.) enter into this consideration but from a scientific perspective I think that one consideration is the degree to which one really believes in neural plasticity and how modifiable brain structures are if they have been implicated in conditions like psychopathy. If a psychopath turns serial killer and engages in such activity for a long period of time (e.g., Ted Bundy), is there any chance that he can be changed from desiring to kill and do the terrible things he did to not wanting to engages in those behaviors again? The so-called Ludovico technique in the book and movie A Clockwork Orange is a fictional example of such a treatment but is any treatment really possible? If effective treatments for psychopathy can be developed, does it make more sense for putting them in prison for life for crimes like murder? If no effective treatments can be found, does it make more sense to execute them? Or should one be skeptical of neuroscientists peddling their research results and opinions in courts and just not seriously consider them? Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here:
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
On Fri, 18 Apr 2014 10:34:10 -0700, Paul Brandon wrote: if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities Cause or effect? Well, that is one of the flies in the ointment. The invited inference is that the brain abnormality causes the observed behavior. But, as Sir Ronald Fisher showed with his argument for the tobacco companies, an association does not dictate direction and a clever person can concoct a story for the neglected inference (in Sir Ronald's case smoking was engaged in because a person was predisposed toward cancer and smoking eased the condition -- how credible you think this is may depend upon how much stock one owns in tobacco companies). So, is it possible that engaging in certain acts (e.g., killing small animals while a child, hurting people for fun and profit, and exercising ultimate control over a person and their body, etc.) leads to certain changes in the brain (the remarkable plasticity of the brain!) which are maintained as long as the activities are maintained and there are no other activities that alter this part of the brain. Then again, perhaps the brain abnormality came first but engaging in certain activities feeds back to alter or reinforce the brain abnormality -- reciprocal interaction. Or maybe the brain abnormality and behavior have some other variable(s) affecting them which is not measured (i.e., the third variable problem in correlation). Or maybe something that we have not thought of yet. Until causality is proven I'd be wary of any sort of legal action. However, Kiehl and his counterpart in the court case I mention below are involved in the legal system and will continue to be. What is the proper attitude to have, especially if you are a juror in a murder case? Having served in that role, I admit to having been troubled the experience (NOTE: this occurred when NY did not have a death penalty; the defendant initially pleaded guilty but his attorney got him to plead not guilty by reason of insanity). Partly, this is due to what I learned during the trial, but perhaps more so after the trial when I and other jurors learned about the other murders the defendant had been convicted of. There is no escaping it (unless, of course, one never does jury duty and never reads about court cases). -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu On Apr 18, 2014, at 12:17 PM, Mike Palij wrote: The website for Wired has an interesting interview with the researcher Kent Kiehl who has studied psychopaths for 20 years; the interview is here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/ The interview is partly a shill for Kiehl's new book The Psychopath Whisperer which is geared for the general public (i.e., it is a money book, that is, a book a scientist writes not for a limited scientific or academic audience but to appeal to a broad audience and is expect to make a fair amount of money -- most popular science books are money books though not all of them make a lot of money). Anyway, Kiehl has his own mobile MRI scanner (there is a picture of him next to trailer that contains the scanner) so he's not doing too badly. When asked how psychopaths' brain differ from normal brains he says the following: |WIRED: What is known at this point about what's different |about their brains? | |Kiehl: We've found that psychopaths have 5 to 10 percent |reduced gray matter density in and around the limbic regions |[a network deep in the brain that's important for emotional |processing]. We've also found - and a group in Germany |has published a similar finding - that the tissue that connects |the limbic system to the frontal lobes is disrupted. There have |also been lots of studies published showing reduced responsivity |in those circuits during emotional processing and moral decision |making. An interesting question that arises from this research is that a number of psychopaths also engage in serious crimes, such as serial killing and worse (anyone who has read about what Ted Bundy did before and after he killed his female victims will know what I'm talking about) and whether psychopaths should be held responsible for such crimes if they have a brain abnormality. This becomes a critical issue in murder trials and Kiehl was apparently the first to use fMRI evidence for the defense of a man who had raped and killed a 10 year old girl (this was during the sentencing phase because the defendant had pleaded guilty and he was already spending time in jail for other murders he had committed). The prosecutors wanted the death penalty while the defense wanted life in prison. Some details about this trial and the jury's decision can be read here: http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/11/fmri-evidence-used-murder-sentencing The question that arises here is if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities should this condition be treated as insanity (i.e., being unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and not
[tips] Psychology of Crucifixion
Did the Romans ever consider crucifixion as cruel and unusual punishment? Btw,Francis of Assisi,Teresa of Avila,John of the Cross-all saints of the Catholic and Padre Pio are all alleged to be stigmatists who experienced Christ's crucifiixion wounds intermittently. How do skeptics like the late Isaac Asimov or even James Randi read those supernatural phenomena? I am aware that the Vatican subjected the Shroud of Turin to scientific investigations. michael going beyond where no tipster has gone before. --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=36221 or send a blank email to leave-36221-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
Hi Mike- I worked as a prison psychologist for ten years and I met (and diagnosed) a large number of psychopaths. Based on this experience I can tell you that psychopaths are no more dangerous to prison staff than are other inmates. As a graduate student I worked with Bob Hare at UBC studying psychopath's reactions to various stimuli. I was convinced back then that psychopaths were wired differently. Their autonomic responses to stressful events were quite quite different from those of normals. As to treatment, I have seen nothing in the literature and nothing in my practice that suggests that psychopaths are treatable. However, that doesn't mean that one should impose the death penalty. If a mentally handicapped person committed a murder would you want to execute them? In most cases the McNaughton rule would preclude that. Personally, I think that the imposition of a death penalty is morally repugnant. Given the large number of people who are falsely convicted each year it is a certainty that an innocent person will be executed. That is one of the reasons that most civilized countries have abolished the death penalty. -Don. - Original Message - From: Mike Palij m...@nyu.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Cc: Michael Palij m...@nyu.edu Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 10:17:29 AM Subject: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths? The website for Wired has an interesting interview with the researcher Kent Kiehl who has studied psychopaths for 20 years; the interview is here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/ The interview is partly a shill for Kiehl's new book The Psychopath Whisperer which is geared for the general public (i.e., it is a money book, that is, a book a scientist writes not for a limited scientific or academic audience but to appeal to a broad audience and is expect to make a fair amount of money -- most popular science books are money books though not all of them make a lot of money). Anyway, Kiehl has his own mobile MRI scanner (there is a picture of him next to trailer that contains the scanner) so he's not doing too badly. When asked how psychopaths' brain differ from normal brains he says the following: |WIRED: What is known at this point about what’s different |about their brains? | |Kiehl: We’ve found that psychopaths have 5 to 10 percent | reduced gray matter density in and around the limbic regions | [a network deep in the brain that's important for emotional | processing]. We’ve also found — and a group in Germany | has published a similar finding — that the tissue that connects | the limbic system to the frontal lobes is disrupted. There have | also been lots of studies published showing reduced responsivity | in those circuits during emotional processing and moral decision |making. An interesting question that arises from this research is that a number of psychopaths also engage in serious crimes, such as serial killing and worse (anyone who has read about what Ted Bundy did before and after he killed his female victims will know what I'm talking about) and whether psychopaths should be held responsible for such crimes if they have a brain abnormality. This becomes a critical issue in murder trials and Kiehl was apparently the first to use fMRI evidence for the defense of a man who had raped and killed a 10 year old girl (this was during the sentencing phase because the defendant had pleaded guilty and he was already spending time in jail for other murders he had committed). The prosecutors wanted the death penalty while the defense wanted life in prison. Some details about this trial and the jury's decision can be read here: http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/11/fmri-evidence-used-murder-sentencing The question that arises here is if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities should this condition be treated as insanity (i.e., being unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and not being able to appreciate the consequences of one's actions)? But here is the more important point: even if such a brain abnormality does exist which judgment is more just: (1) life in prison: to keep the person out of open society and hope that prison controls will prevent the psychopath from killing someone within prison or outside of prison by proxy (Kiehl talks about how an imprisoned psychopath that he interviewed thought that he snitched on him and through his network got someone on the outside to try hurt or kill him). or (2) death penalty: if the brain abnormality is not modifiable by various treatments and the psychopath remains a danger to others even while in prison, isn't the best way to minimize future risk is by executing the person? A number of factors (scientific, moral, legal, etc.) enter into this consideration but from a scientific perspective I think that
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
Mike : I spent a couple of months working with prison inmates as a drug addiction counselor at Tomoka State prison here in Daytona Beach as a drug addiction counselor and we had discusion on this. You may want to check out a bideo titled MINDS TO CRIME, The Brits have extensive research on this.Check out a book published by a Brit titled THE CRIMINAL MIND by Colin (can't remember his last name. michael going beyond where no tipster has gone before --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=36224 or send a blank email to leave-36224-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
Sometimes I am amazed by the uncritical interpretation of results. Just two very simple examples when it comes to brain differences and psychopathy: 1) In some widely quoted studies psychopaths were compared with non-offenders. The control group should rather have consisted not only of offenders, but of offenders who had committed the same or similar crimes. 2) Even if there is a statistical difference between psychopaths and non-psychopaths it does not mean that all psychopaths have a brain dysfunction. A naive example: if it is found that 40% of psychopaths have a brain dysfunction versus only 10% of a control group, the results will probably be statistically significant. And it will be reported (especially by the media) that psychopaths have a brain dysfunction. However, the majority of psychopaths do not fall in this category. What makes it more worrisome is that many lecturers also fall prey to this phenomenon and spread misconceptions and half-truths to their students. Dap Louw University of the Free State South Africa _ University of the Free State: This message and its contents are subject to a disclaimer. Please refer to http://www.ufs.ac.za/disclaimer for full details. Universiteit van die Vrystaat: Hierdie boodskap en sy inhoud is aan 'n vrywaringsklousule onderhewig. Volledige besonderhede is by http://www.ufs.ac.za/vrywaring beskikbaar. _ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=36226 or send a blank email to leave-36226-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths?
One discussion question I often ask my students is how early do they think the abnormal wiring of psychopaths could be detected by brain imaging technology. And then my follow-up question is IF we can predict that certain brain wiring patterns predict psychopathic behaviors by age 6,what type of action might be appropriate, if any? I have read a fair amount about the early life experiences of psychopaths and they usually have experienced very high levels of violence as well as very low levels of empathy. So might it not be a plausible hypothesis that they have habituated to stress as well as to gruesome, violent images. Just BTW, let us not forget that all of our brains are wired differently relative to how much we have been exposed to music, language, motor activities, etc. Our brain is capable of making new neural connections throughout life but nothing like during our early years, dang it. Joan jwarm...@oakton.edu Hi Mike- I worked as a prison psychologist for ten years and I met (and diagnosed) a large number of psychopaths. Based on this experience I can tell you that psychopaths are no more dangerous to prison staff than are other inmates. As a graduate student I worked with Bob Hare at UBC studying psychopath's reactions to various stimuli. I was convinced back then that psychopaths were wired differently. Their autonomic responses to stressful events were quite quite different from those of normals. As to treatment, I have seen nothing in the literature and nothing in my practice that suggests that psychopaths are treatable. However, that doesn't mean that one should impose the death penalty. If a mentally handicapped person committed a murder would you want to execute them? In most cases the McNaughton rule would preclude that. Personally, I think that the imposition of a death penalty is morally repugnant. Given the large number of people who are falsely convicted each year it is a certainty that an innocent person will be executed. That is one of the reasons that most civilized countries have abolished the death penalty. -Don. - Original Message - From: Mike Palij m...@nyu.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Cc: Michael Palij m...@nyu.edu Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 10:17:29 AM Subject: [tips] Are Psychopaths' Brains Different From Nonpsychopaths? The website for Wired has an interesting interview with the researcher Kent Kiehl who has studied psychopaths for 20 years; the interview is here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/psychopath-brains-kiehl/ The interview is partly a shill for Kiehl's new book The Psychopath Whisperer which is geared for the general public (i.e., it is a money book, that is, a book a scientist writes not for a limited scientific or academic audience but to appeal to a broad audience and is expect to make a fair amount of money -- most popular science books are money books though not all of them make a lot of money). Anyway, Kiehl has his own mobile MRI scanner (there is a picture of him next to trailer that contains the scanner) so he's not doing too badly. When asked how psychopaths' brain differ from normal brains he says the following: |WIRED: What is known at this point about whatâs different |about their brains? | |Kiehl: Weâve found that psychopaths have 5 to 10 percent | reduced gray matter density in and around the limbic regions | [a network deep in the brain that's important for emotional | processing]. Weâve also found â and a group in Germany | has published a similar finding â that the tissue that connects | the limbic system to the frontal lobes is disrupted. There have | also been lots of studies published showing reduced responsivity | in those circuits during emotional processing and moral decision |making. An interesting question that arises from this research is that a number of psychopaths also engage in serious crimes, such as serial killing and worse (anyone who has read about what Ted Bundy did before and after he killed his female victims will know what I'm talking about) and whether psychopaths should be held responsible for such crimes if they have a brain abnormality. This becomes a critical issue in murder trials and Kiehl was apparently the first to use fMRI evidence for the defense of a man who had raped and killed a 10 year old girl (this was during the sentencing phase because the defendant had pleaded guilty and he was already spending time in jail for other murders he had committed). The prosecutors wanted the death penalty while the defense wanted life in prison. Some details about this trial and the jury's decision can be read here: http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/11/fmri-evidence-used-murder-sentencing The question that arises here is if psychopathy is shown to be associated with specific brain abnormalities should this condition be treated as insanity (i.e., being unable to
