HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: charles@capmkt.COM (Charles Neveu)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Blindsight & Subconscious controlled behaviour
Date: 12 Dec 92 03:45:59 GMT
Organization: Capital Market Technology

rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) writes:
>In article <ByuDyn.L78@newcastle.ac.uk> w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk writes:
>>
>>  Has anyone come accross any good books on the subject of
>>blindsight?

>I doubt that books have been written *about* blindsight [...]
Actually, there's Blindsight, by L. Weiskrantz (Clarendon Press, NY or
Oxford U. Press; 1986), which is a case study of a man with surgical
ablation of the visual cortex. As I recall, he had lateral hemianopia.
He was able to saccade to light flashes in his blind hemisphere, and
even point to them with his hand with some accuracy, even though he
was not aware of them and insisted that he was guessing. It's
consistent with hypothesized functioning of the pre-tectal pathway.

Charles Neveu  neveu@milo.berkeley.edu
Neurology Unit
UC Berkeley
From: rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Rumor's of Peter Hartline
Date: 13 Dec 92 20:49:25 GMT
Reply-To: rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe)
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

I'm afraid that I'm responsible for spreading an incorrect "fact" in
this forum.  In one of my posts in a recent but short-lived thread I
wrote:

>Unfortunately, investigations into the IR sensitive pits of snakes
>seems to have died with Peter Hartline :-(

Although it seems that Peter has not continued his research in IR
sensitivity since some time in the early-mid '80s, he is still alive.
Sorry about that, and thanks again to the person who wised me up :-)
Everyone please tell your friends!

Mickey Rowe     (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: "Falling" Asleep
From: ng4@husc10.harvard.edu (Ho Leung Ng)
Date: 18 Dec 92 06:39:38 GMT
 <17855@pitt.UUCP>,<BzF4sA.Jyx@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk> <1992Dec17.200724.27448@spruce.pfc.forestry.ca>

   Actually, this happens a lot to me regardless of whether I am in stress
or have been missing sleep.  Are there any good books out there on sleep?
I am less interested in the psychology but more on actual biology /
biochemstry.
   I am a student in biochem. and have had exposure and read lots of papers
in many different subfields but have never encountered anything dealing
with the mechanism of sleep.  Is there really nothing rigorous known about
this?

Ho Leung Ng
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Looking for New Scientist article on visible microorganism
From: robison1@husc10.harvard.edu (Keith Robison)
Date: 19 Dec 92 17:10:24 GMT

I don't know the citation, but it IS a bacterium (found in a sturgeon)
and it was pulled out by Norm Pace's lab.  Science made a passing reference
to it a while back also.


Keith Robison
Harvard University
Department of Cellular & Developmental Biology
Department of Genetics / HHMI

robison@biosun.harvard.edu
From: colby@bu-bio.bu.edu (Chris Colby)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Genetic variation (was: microevolution)
Date: 17 Dec 92 01:29:10 GMT
Organization: animal -- coelomate -- deuterostome

Sorry it took me so long to answer this.

In article <2b21077ewnr070@ark.abg.sub.org> ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan) writes:

>Now, I have a question:  Is there any significance in this numbers, that is,
>what (dis)advantage could it have to have a low/high number of genetic
>variation? 

Most of the genetic variation in species is probably neutral with respect 
to fitness. Alleles may differ in nucleotide sequence but not have any
effect on the health, fertility or sexual attractiveness of the
organisms carrying them. The levels of variation most likely reflect 
population size, mutation rate and rate of gene flow more than anything
else. (In addition, citing an average for large groups is probably
nearly meaningless.)

Genetic variation with fitness differences is very fleeting because
selection rapidly depletes the existing variation. The "good" allele
increases in frequency in the gene pool at the expense of the "bad"
allele. Soon, only the "good" allele is left -- no variation.

>Does this increase "fitness" for the species?

Species don't have fitness, genotypes within a population do. Species
do not have reproductive success _as a unit_ so they cannot have a
fitness. Thus, selection cannot act on groups to produce traits
that benefit a species or population as a whole. (There are limited
exceptions.)

>Is this the
>reason why e.g. insects are survival artists?

I would guess (i.e. I have no idea, but I'm commenting anyway 8-)
that it has more to do with their ecology.

>Thanks in advance.
>ralf

Chris Colby 	---	 email: colby@bu-bio.bu.edu	---
"'My boy,' he said, 'you are descended from a long line of determined,
resourceful, microscopic tadpoles--champions every one.'"
 	--Kurt Vonnegut from "Galapagos"
From: dublin@lab3.smcm.edu (Leola Dublin)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: UNDERGRAD NEEDS SUMMER JOB!!!!
Keywords: undergraduate, summer job, bio, research
Date: 13 Dec 92 02:05:34 GMT


I am a junior bio/chem major desperately seeking summer employment.  
Research would be great. Anything would be o.k. I need the experience. I  
have a summer of experience doing sediment chemistry at Columbia  
University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. ***I need to find work  
for the summer*** This is no longer a joke. My advisor tells me that  
without experience, jobs opportunities when I graduate are going to be few  
and far between. I am female, a minority, and financially independent, so  
if that helps any, wonderful.  

Here's how I can be reached:

email:  dublin@oyster.smcm.edu
snail mail: Alex Dublin
	    Box 800
	    St.Mary's City MD 20686


ALEX
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Looking for New Scientist article on visible microorganism
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 00:36:24 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

Although not what you asked for, there is an organism called acetabuleria
(sp?) which is monocellular and about two inches long.  It looks like
a small mushroom, but I think it is a marine organism.  I think I remember
reading an article in _Scientific_American_ on this, published back in the
1950's or so.
From: bl275@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dan Diaz)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Looking for New Scientist article on visible microorganism
Date: 19 Dec 1992 04:50:45 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: bl275@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dan Diaz)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Someone said that they had seen a recent article in the New Scientist
dealing with a bacterium which was visible by the naked (unclothed) eye. 
If anyone can supply me the citation, I will email you a danke schoen.
-- 
Dizzy Dan         ddiaz@cwru.bitnet      bl275@cleveland.freenet.edu
Department of Molecular Genetics - Albert Einstein College of Medicine
"Dissertations are useless, archaic documents which will be elimated as 
soon as I have defended mine"
From: gmt@ukc.ac.uk (G.M.Tardivel)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: menopause
Date: 14 Dec 92 15:47:36 GMT
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

On a similar theme to the longevity of males:
  
Is the menopause confined to humans? primates? mammals?  

Is it a feature of longevity - would all female animals have one 
if they survived long enough? 

or 

Is there a selective advantage to having a menopause - would females with a
menopause leave more breeding progeny than those without?

(and of course, would men live longer with one?)

J. Tardivel
Newsgroups: sci.bio
From: simonb@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Simon Blomberg)
Subject: Re: Rumor's of Peter Hartline
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 07:14:10 GMT

rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu (Mickey Rowe) writes:

>I'm afraid that I'm responsible for spreading an incorrect "fact" in
>this forum.  In one of my posts in a recent but short-lived thread I
>wrote:

>>Unfortunately, investigations into the IR sensitive pits of snakes
>>seems to have died with Peter Hartline :-(

>Although it seems that Peter has not continued his research in IR
>sensitivity since some time in the early-mid '80s, he is still alive.
>Sorry about that, and thanks again to the person who wised me up :-)
>Everyone please tell your friends!

>Mickey Rowe     (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu)

Let's hope for the resurrection of ecological studies on snakes
with IR-sensitive pits!!

Simon.

-- 
Simon Blomberg                                   simonb@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU
School of Biol. Sciences, A08
University of Sydney           We demand the right to stop to look even at
NSW   2006  Australia          lizards, who are nobody's property. -JBS Haldane
From: sonix@schunix.uucp (Duane Morin)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Simple Genetics Questions
Date: 15 Dec 92 13:47:03 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: SCHUNIX Public Access Unix for Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA

I find myself scheduled to give a presentation in roughly two months on the
use of genetic algorithms to teach societal/technological issues in biology,
chemistry, etc.. Not being a biologist, I'm looking for someone to field a 
few of my questions over the next month or so regarding some basic genetic
questions.  The central project that I'm working on is a genetic algorithm 
simulator, but I'm building it based on Richard Dawkins' Selfish Genes book,
trying to stay as true to his terminology as I can.

If there's anyone out there that wouldn't mind being a technical editor 
for some of my work, I'd greatly appreciate it.  The final product will 
not be a published paper, so I am not asking for any sort of co-authorship
or anything of that nature.  I just don't want to talk on something I 
know nothing about.

Thanks for any help I can get (email responses, please, and I'll happily 
load you down with questions).

Duane Morin
 Software Development Manager
 Walker Sonix, Inc
 Worcester, MA 01604
From: robison1@husc10.harvard.edu (Keith Robison)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Negative selection-driven speciation
Date: 16 Dec 92 16:44:48 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Keith Robison
Harvard University
Department of Cellular & Developmental Biology
Department of Genetics / HHMI

robison@biosun.harvard.edu
From: kfree@netlink.cts.com (Kenneth Freeman)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: people suffering from depression - let's share some info!
Keywords: bad experience with"treatments"
Date: 15 Dec 92 17:32:54 GMT
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA

harveytj@kirk.aston.ac.uk  writes:

> I found also that a number of people (including me) had a bad experience, 
> getting extreme side effects etc.....
> 

 
'walkers@world.std.com' is an excellent Internet mailing list 
for unipolar and bipolar people and just plain melancholics and
manic-depressives. People go into great detail about their Rx,
the side effects, how they cope with their neurochemistry having
its own ideas (so to speak), etc. walkers is a superb resource;
the last I looked, there were ~70 walkers, and the list was
burgeoning.

--                    
INTERNET:  kfree@netlink.cts.com (Kenneth Freeman)
UUCP:   ...!ryptyde!netlink!kfree
NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA (619) 453-1115
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: cravener@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Patty Cravener)
Subject: Re: Psychology and Interrogation
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:12:18 GMT


Poor Dave... none so sad (nor so invincible) as those who WILL not learn...

Let's let him have his little tantrum, don't you think?
                                                       (probably there
is some area of human endeavor wherein he does feel safe and competant, 
after all... though clearly that subject is not human behavior)

.................................aloha       pc

Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton)
Subject: Re: Psychology and Interrogation
Organization: Intermetrics Inc., Washington Division, USA
	<00724175210@elgamy.jpunix.com>
	<DLB.92Dec14152938@fanny.wash.inmet.com>
	<1992Dec15.182414.16687@news.Hawaii.Edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:17:27 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.182414.16687@news.Hawaii.Edu>
cravener@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Patty Cravener) writes:

   There are reams data, Dave.
   The annoying thing about this newsgroup is that so many people seem
   to believe that if they don't know anything about a subject, nothing
   is known. All sophomores, I wonder? Any introductory textbook in
   learning (a subspseciality of psychology) will equip you with the
   baseline information you need.

Sorry, I've been out for quite some time.  I have read several
psychology texts, and taken the introductory course.  They include
various data on training and means of inducing various behaviors,
which (superficially) match yours.  This included (to my eternal
retrospective boredom) a fair number of education and learning
courses.  I have seen no claims for a universal ability to train a
particular subject, resistant or not, to do any specific behavior in
six months time (which was, after all, your claim).

I have done a fair amount of personal interest reading, and have found
nothing like what you said existed.  If this does indeed exist, and if
you are too impatient to correct my poor ignorance, I hope someone
else will.

Your post resembled the fevered dreams of what the CIA would wish for
out of behavioral reinforcement techniques.  Try distinguishing
between the Ludlum novels you are reading and the textbooks.

					Dave Barton
					dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,alt.hypnosis
From: dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton)
Subject: Re: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (FAQ)
Organization: Intermetrics Inc., Washington Division, USA
	<DLB.92Dec11130253@fanny.wash.inmet.com>
	<1992Dec11.225257.25689@pony.Ingres.COM>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 14:47:09 GMT

In article <1992Dec11.225257.25689@pony.Ingres.COM> jpk@Ingres.COM
(Jon Krueger) writes:

   Counterexample: systematic desensitization.

Included, I believe, in the general category of cognitive therapies.

   Counterexample: behavior mod.

As a general category of psychological phenomena, true.  Less true
(although not null) with respect to the clinical variants.  Each of
these are why I said "few", and not "none".

   As the above indicates, this is a sorry "best".  Had we settled for
   this with medical practice, your chances of survival would be
   enhanced by not going to a doctor.  This was the case before we
   insisted on objective tests of treatments, and it would still be
   the case now.  The history of medicine is a treasure chest of
   examples why you're better off not depending on the opinions of
   "experts" when objective tests are available.

For the moment, in the context of the discussion, "best" is all we've
got.

I think people in general (not necessarily yourself; I do not know
from your posts) underestimate the tremendous increase in medical
research *practice*, and particularly in experiment design, that took
place around the end of World War II.  Before then, it is not clear to
me that the standards for demonstrating efficacy were known to most
researchers, let alone general practitioners.

It is also not clear to me that these standards can be transplanted,
wholesale, to clinical psychological practice.  The role of a
"placebo" is not clear to me, nor is the ability to narrow the range
of the experiment to a single technique or practice and do justice to
the clinical situation.  (I am not saying this is impossible, just
that I do not know how to do it).

It is no accident that your counterexamples above are arguably the
most "mechanistic" of the clinical techniques available (where
"mechanistic" is a very intuitive scale).  Fields such as hypnosis
(which is, after all, the subject of alt.hypnosis) have a fair amount
of controversy concerning "standardized" and "flexible" approaches.
Erickson, as the most famous example, could produce hypnotic phenomena
fairly reliably; yet, he continually denounced any standardized
induction.

					Dave Barton
					dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Psychology and Interrogation
From: mcsdc1al@dct.ac.uk
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:39:25 GMT
Organization: Dundee Institute of Technology

In article <1992Dec10.193426.2411@dct.ac.uk>, mcsdc1al@dct.ac.uk writes:
> As someone not too clued up on psychology and with a slight problem to solve, I
> wonder if anyone could help me...
> 
> If you took a strong-willed man and wished to extract information from him,
> how, psychologically speaking, would you go about taking this information from
> him.  
> 
> The basic premise is...
> 
> a) A spy is kidnapped and taken away from civilisation and placed in a
> completely fabricated society.
> 
> b) His kidnappers want his information.
> 
> c) He is strong-willed and trained (as a spy) to withstand most interrogation
> techniques.
> 
> d) He has no family, so the idea that he would give information if his family
> were threatened doesn't exist.
> 
> 
> 
> How would a psychologist take away his information?
> 
> **Lucas**
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: e: Chaos Theory applied to Developmental Psych.
From: S954161@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 15:35:33 CST
Organization: UM ST. LOUIS
NNTP-Posting-Host: 134.124.1.2

  I am also interested in Chaos theory as applied to psychological systems.
I have not seen anything out there dealing with psychology except in regards
to physiology and nervous system. Also, I have seen speculation dealing with
memory and soliton waves. I would be interested in anything you find.
 
  One question....systems theory is a large part of dynamic interactions in
Chaos theory. Have you seen anything bringing this together?
 
Thanks.........
 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
*  From:  Ben Ricker  s954161@Umslvma.umsl.edu                       *
*         University of Missouri at St. Louis                        *
*                                                                    *
* "I'm going to hollow you out and use you as a sleeping bag!        *
*  Crow T. Robot                                                     *
+____________________________________________________________________+
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,alt.hypnosis
From: dlb@fanny.wash.inmet.com (David Barton)
Subject: Re: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (FAQ)
Followup-To: sci.psychology,alt.hypnosis
Organization: Intermetrics Inc., Washington Division, USA
	<MAS.92Dec4194942@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov>
	<1992Dec10.015242.20409@news.Hawaii.Edu>
	<MAS.92Dec9193200@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 18:02:53 GMT

In article <MAS.92Dec9193200@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov>
mas@porgy.jpl.nasa.gov (Marc A. Sarrel) writes:

   But, I would argue that a responsible therapist should not
   incorporate NLP without the aformentioned scientific process having
   been applied.

This is a standard which very few psychological clinical procedures
have passed (like none).  Clinical practice in the psychological
fields tends not to be supported by research.

There is some support (not a lot) for some of the cognitive therapies
over a "placebo" (an interesting term applied to psychological
therapies).  There is also, buried among the "crappy research" that
Mr. Lee refers to, some indication of an equivalent level of NLP
effectiveness (not greater).  This is about as good as anyone gets.

Fortunately or unfortunately, your best indication is the practice of
professionals in the field.  My own NLP instructors are a practicing
psychiatrist and a practicing therapist; NLP instruction is a
sideline.  I tend to trust their judgement.  Keep in mind that other
practicing clinicians dismiss NLP completely.

					Dave Barton
					dlb@hudson.wash.inmet.com
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Re: DREAM MACHINE
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 22:14:24 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <1992Dec12.003846.13858@sfu.ca>

There is machine called the "Dreamlight" which consists basically of a thing 
you strap on your head with LEDs and some sort of sensor for eye movement.
When you move your eyes during REM sleep, a microprocessor detects the
movement and flashes the lights.  This is supposed to be helpful for
developing lucid dreaming -- the ability to be conscious within the dream
state.  The flashes serve as a signal to remind you you are in a dream.
I think it costs about $1500.  I read about it about a year ago in
_Whole_Earth_Review_.
w
From: klarer@spdcc.com (Steve Klarer)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
Subject: Question on the history of community care for psych. patients
Date: 18 Dec 92 22:39:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Dec18.223928.9484
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

I recall reading many years ago about a community in either Holland or
Belgium which for centuries has been taking people with severe mental 
illness into home settings for treatment.  From what I recall it began
as a service provided by townspeople to pilgrims who were going to a
shrine for healing of madness.

Does this ring a bell for anyone?  Can anyone suggest where I might go
to find out more?

E-mail replies wouldbe much appreciated.

Thanks, 
Steve

email address   
klarer@ursa-major.spdcc.com
 
Newsgroups: sci.psychology
From: madavis@nmsu.edu (Mark Davis)
Subject: Re: DREAM MACHINE
Organization: Computing Research Lab
	<1992Dec12.003846.13858@sfu.ca> <71528@cup.portal.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:14:19 GMT

In article <71528@cup.portal.com> mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes:

   There is machine called the "Dreamlight" which consists basically of a thing 
   you strap on your head with LEDs and some sort of sensor for eye movement.
   When you move your eyes during REM sleep, a microprocessor detects the
   movement and flashes the lights.  This is supposed to be helpful for
   developing lucid dreaming -- the ability to be conscious within the dream
   state.  The flashes serve as a signal to remind you you are in a dream.
   I think it costs about $1500.  I read about it about a year ago in
   _Whole_Earth_Review_.
   w

yeah, the company now calls itself The Lucidity Institute and it is
apparently a spinoff of research being done at Stanford.  A week back,
on NPR, i heard an Oregon composer who's newest piece equips all the
audience with goggles with lights inside and they get light patterns
tuned to the flow of the music, which is basically akin to Laurie
Anderson.  he said categorically that he had tried a wide range of
biofeedback and stimulation devices experimentally over the years and
that the Lucidity Institute's product was the only one he had found 
which delivered on its promises.

hmmmm, if only the price came down.

mark


--
                          WORLD                                    WORLD VIEW
        
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       **** * *    ** ***************** * 
       *****      *  * ** ************ *                               
        *               ************** *
       ****       ****** ** ** ******      
       *****     *******     *   ***     
        **          ***           *   **
        *           ***            ***  
        *            *            *****  *
                                   * *   *

                                          - mark -
Newsgroups: sci.psychology