Elena's Legacy. Texts written by Elena, excerpts from texts she liked, her artworks.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Alien Races

The Meguti once occupied a Class-M planet in sector 191 of the Delta Quadrant and were known for the complexity of their architectural structures, which survived hundreds of thousands of years after they became extinct.

The Rurokitan were a migratory race who covered dozens of sectors some sixty thousand light years from our present location and were last heard from four hundred years ago. Hrimshee was worshipped for two thousand years by the Now, who waged war in his name with the Venti and disappeared from all records over a thousand years ago.

Alien race can look like this. Photo: Elena

Occidon’s Parush Desert had once been home to hundreds of nomadic tribes. Its northern edge was bordered by high stone cliffs in which countless caves had been carved and where archeologists had spent years analysing the illuminated texts that decorated the walls. Most of them were creation stories detailing the romances of Occidon’s single sun and the four sisters, or moons visible in the night sky. Unlike many similar civilizations, Parush’s inhabitants were unique in that they seemed perfectly agreeable to disagreeing among themselves about their origin stories.

Kirsten Beyer The Children of the Storm

Personality Traits & Loneliness

The purpose of the present essay is to look at communication from a psychological perspective. Psychologists draw a sharp contrast between solitude and loneliness, maintaining that loneliness implies a sense of dissatisfaction with one’s aloneness, while solitude means contentment with one’s state. Along the same lines, while most people enjoy social interactions, particularly with close and loved ones, needing one’s own space and moments of reflection, and peace and quiet are likewise commonplace.

As stated elsewhere, mental health professionals use the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, several publications since its inception) to diagnose and treat patients. Interestingly enough, not all mental illnesses and disorders may be cured. For instance, personality disorders (Axis II of the DSM), such as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder (also known as psychopathy or sociopathy), Borderline Personality Disorder and others, lack any corresponding medications or even a clearly defined line of treatment. Likewise, some scientists view them as simple extremes of the personality continuum or normal distribution, also known as the bell curve. Other conditions, such as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or phobias are circumvented with medication and/or therapy. Further, in relation to the introductory paragraph, one of the most currently cited symptoms of mental affliction constitutes social withdrawal, present in diseases such as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD, commonly known simply as depression) and schizophrenia. Other conditions, such as Asperger’s Disorder or Autism may likewise predispose one to avoid social contact and human interaction, to an extent.

Personality & Loneliness. Photo: Megan Jorgensen

Nonetheless, perfectly healthy human beings differ greatly in their willingness and ability to socialize. Indeed, as economists define supply and demand, both concepts imply a willingness coupled with an ability to produce and buy, respectively. Thus, in psychological terms, introverts differ greatly from extroverts. While our culture places greater emphasis on the benefits of extraversion, praising team work and the ability to get along with others, (peaceful) introversion is fine as well. Extraversion and introversion are one of the Big Five personality descriptors, along with neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and extraversion.

By the same token, social psychologists, the researchers most directly interested in interpersonal relations and interactions, define social competence as the ability to obtain what one wants in relationships, while continuing to maintain positive relationships with them. Communication is key, so many employers stress the importance of written and verbal communication skills. While verbal communication is probably the most common, many mediums may used to convey a message. In general, communication may be defined as involving a sender, a message, transmission, potential interfering noise, and a receiver. In other words, the sender encodes the message, while the receiver decodes it. Notwithstanding, breakdowns in communication may occur, resulting in misunderstandings. Many guidelines exist to shed light on the elusive art of communicating efficiently, but as with most subjects in behavioural science, arguments remain debated. For instance, some suggest using first person personal pronouns is clearer, while others argue that shifting attention by using second person alternatives may be preferable. Still, messages are likewise communicated by social cues, such as facial expression, tone of voice and body language. In addition, psychologists have consistently replicated results that peoples around the world recognize the same basic emotions through facial expressions. Theory of mind, the mental array of schemas representing other people’s thoughts, emotions and intentions also involve other clues, such as vocabulary content.

Other forms of communication include, but are not limited to, signalling, such as morse code or maritime signaling. On such occasions, similar to language, the comprehension of the message relies on both parties attributing the same meaning to symbols. Linguistics is the study of human communication, and Noam Chomsky is often credited with being the most famous linguist, or at least a very prominent figure in the field.

Furthermore, bonding is mostly seen in familial and romantic relationships, and is believed to be associated with vasopressin and oxytocin release. For instance, the mountain vole and its close cousin, the prairie vole, differ significantly in their attachment styles and the formation of life long monogamous versus short lived polyamourous ties.

Friendship rests on sharing common interests, likeness and proximity. Indeed, experimenters have documented that we tend to like those who like us, form ties and relationships with those who are close to us physically (students became friends with roommates and those living in the same dorm in one study) and also based on similarity and affinities. To illustrate, studies have shown, that marriage partners are often similar in intelligence, educational background and other attributes. However, several gender differences have been depicted in the literature when it comes to traits considered desirable in potential mates. Also, attraction has been attributed to facial symmetry, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in women, and clear complexion, all attributes signalling good health and reproductive capacity to others.

Finally, a Canadian researcher, Mary Ainsworth, examined attachment styles using the strange situation paradigm, a topic explored in child or developmental psychology, the brach of the social science concentrating on the development of the individual across the life span. She found that attachment could be categorized as secure and insecure, with the latter further subdivided into anxious, ambiguous and dismissive. As discussed above, the purpose of the present paper was to outline some psychological arguments in relation to psychology.

Loneliness. Illustration by Elena.

Fitting the Young With Contact Lenses

A 12-year-old should be able to handle it

Medically speaking, contact lenses are an option no matter what your age. Babies can – and do – wear contact lenses after congenital cataract surgery. Today, even an infant as young as one week old can wear silicone extended-wear lenses, which are permeable and malleable yet hold their shape. Such lenses can be kept in the baby’s eyes for weeks. Parents can remove them when they need to be cleaned.

Older children are ready for contacts when they are old enough for the responsibility of taking care of them. If a child can’t pick up his room yet, he’s not a good candidate. Doctors recommend that children get daily-wear soft or rigid lenses, which require nightly cleanings but are less likely to pose trouble than disposable or extended-wear lenses that are kept in the eyes longer.

The young contact lens-wearer needs to realize the importance of proper lens care. If eyes look red or hurt, for instance, a doctor should be consulted.

A boy. Photo: Elena

When to Test Children’s Eyes

A baby’s vision at age one is a good predictor of eyesight later in life

Does the fact that you wear eyeglasses doom your child to the same fate? Not necessarily.

But when it comes to vision, poor parental eyesight does up the odds that a child will also need glasses, too. Recent studies found that in families where neither parent is nearsighted, the chances of a child being myopic is less than 1 in 10; if one parent is nearsighted, the odds increase to more than 1 in 5, and if both parents share the condition, the odds rise to over 2 in 5.

What’s more, the M.I.T. researchers found that when a baby is nearsighted at age one, that’s often a good predictor of whether the child is likely to be nearsighted at a later age. Infants who are nearsighted usually develop normal eyesight between 1 and 5 years of age, but between 6 and 12, their vision often weakens, particularly if the parents are nearsighted.

While there is no known way to improve the odds that a nearsighted infant can escape nearsightedness at an older age, the American Academy of pediatrics nevertheless recommends that infants be checked for visual problems during their first half-year of life and that eye tests be done at least once a year during their preschool years.

Such examinations not only allow doctors to diagnose rare problems (e.g. cataracts), but also help them identify muscle problems that might cause a child to use only one eye. Early testing can also enable doctors to fit children suffering from extreme cases of nearsightedness with corrective lenses. Early intervention can spare such children frustration can spare such children frustration, ensuring a smooth transition to school.

Waiting until a child starts school to have his or her eyes tested is too late. Experts say, because certain eye problems, such as strabismus or anisemetropia, if left undetected till the age of five or six, can become permanent. If they are detected earlier, however, they are easily remedied.

Research & Emotions

The following essay discusses a topic of great interest to psychologists across the different disciplines, namely, emotions. Emotions differ from feelings, in that feelings are more permanent and may even imply an attachment, but emotions are rather felt on a momentary basis. Thus, anger or joy represent emotions, while love or hatred correspond to feelings. Likewise, emotions may have a negative or positive valence, and emotionally salient stimuli remain often presented during psychological studies and experiments.

Further, social psychologists tend to describe five main emotions: joy, fear, anger, surprise and sadness. In turn, these emotions are often expressed by a construct known as social cues, which comprise facial expressions, tone of voice, vocabulary content, posture and body language, to name a few. Interestingly, several studies have shown that these basic emotions are recognized worldwide and across cultures. For example, a psychological research study showed participants photos of people smiling. In the different countries where the experiments were conducted, most subjects converged on decoding the emotion pictured (such as a smile when conveying joy).

It can't be research without emotions. Illustration by Elena

Alternatively, neural correlates of emotion have likewise been documented in the literature, in neuroimaging studies. Neuroimaging studies reflect neuroscience research methods, a branch of both biology and psychology, and consequently, also known as neurobiology. Correspondingly, the two neuroimaging techniques most often used in neuroscience are fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and ERP (Event Related Potential) imaging studies. Thus, neuroimaging methods have shown that the amygdala seems to be associated with emotion, particularly with fear and anxiety evoking stimuli and associated memories.

On the one hand, neuroscience studies the brain and pinpoints the neuronal substrates of cognitive processes, behaviour and action. On the other hand, social psychology looks at interpersonal interaction. Amazingly, individuals displaying positive emotions seem to be liked by peers, lending credence not only to the scientific body of knowledge, brain imaging findings and research, but also to popular wisdom maintaining that laughter is, indeed, contagious. Therefore, the above discussion represents an attempt to briefly showcase the main arguments about emotion in psychology, particularly, focusing on social psychology and neuroscience.

Psychology Essay: Neurotransmitters & Animation

The purpose of the present essay is to briefly introduce neuroscience, explain how neurotransmission works and, surprisingly, attempt to reconcile it to animation. Thus, Introduction to Neuroscience is a standard core course one must complete as part of an undergraduate degree when majoring in psychology. Neuroscience, also known as neurobiology, was traditionally a part of biology, and is better understood when one already learned the basics of biology, physics and chemistry.

Further, neuroscience looks at the brain as whole, and at specific neural correlates or neuronal substrates of thought, activity and emotion. Interestingly, the brain remains active in its entirety even during sleep, but neuroimaging studies such as fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and ERP (Event Related Potential) shed light on neuronal clusters most active during a particular event. The precise locations are calculated using the subtraction method.

Alternatively, manga is a style of comics originating in Japan, in the same way as anime is an initially Japanese animation genre. Interestingly the word anime varies in meanings. Sometimes it narrowly refers to Japanese animation and comics (with related words such as manga, komikku and popular series Naruto), while at other times it means cartoon and comic book style characters and stories, that are dark, close to Gothic, in nature. Despite the indisputable worldwide popularity of the anime genre, there are many other cartoon styles such as machinima (toons made with computer graphics as background art), Family Guy and derivative shows, Futurama, Bob’s Burgers, The Lion King or Star Trek: The Animated Series, to only name a few…

A distinguished comic story turned cartoon is The Smurfs franchise. Also called Schtroumpfs, these mythical creatures were created in Belgium. On July 29, 2011 a collaboration between Columbia Pictures and Sony Animation Pictures presented the 3D movie The Smurfs. Needless to say, it’s a lovely movie… Other famous animated productions come from prestigious cartoons, fantasy and comics names such as Disney, Dream Works Animation, Marvel and DC.

Nonetheless, the term Smad Ubiquitin Regulatory FactorS are also abbreviated as such (Arora & Warrior, 2001). The ligases fulfill important functions in TGF-β functions. Well, aside from some biomedical bloggers and the present entry, there are very few connections between smurfs and neuroscience. Some animation, graphic design and video editing programs are available at little or no cost. Such examples are freeware, open source, shareware & several Internet sites. Animation can be subdivided into 2D and 3D genres, and software exists for modelling, rendering and photo editing. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to attempt to relate animation to neuroscience.

Some animation, graphic design and video editing programs are available at little or no cost. Such examples are freeware, open source, shareware & several Internet sites.

Reference:

Arora, K. & Warrior, R. (2001). A new smurf in the village. Developmental Cell, 1: 1-2.