bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Visual stimuli within peripersonal space prioritize pain
Authors: De Paepe Annick , Legrain Valéry , Crombez Geert 
Published: November 2012

Localizing pain not only requires a simple somatotopic representation of the body, but also knowledge about the limb position (i.e., proprioception), and a visual localization of the pain source in external space. Therefore, nociceptive events are remapped into a multimodal representation of the body and the space nearby (i.e., a peripersonal schema of the body). We investigated the influence of visual cues presented either in peripersonal, or in extrapersonal space on the localization of nociceptive stimuli in a temporal order judgement (TOJ) task. 24 psychology students made TOJs concerning which of two nociceptive stimuli (one applied to each hand) had been presented first (or last). A spatially non-predictive visual cue (i.e., lighting of a LED) preceded (80 ms) the nociceptive stimuli. This cue was presented randomly either on the hand of the participant (in peripersonal space), or 70 cm in front of the hand (in extrapersonal space), and either on the left or on the right side of space. Biases in spatial attention are reflected by the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS). The results revealed that TOJs were more biased towards the visual cue in peripersonal space in comparison with the visual cue in extrapersonal space. This study provides evidence for the crossmodal integration of visual and nociceptive stimuli in a peripersonal schema of the body. Future research with this paradigm will explore crossmodal attention deficits in chronic pain populations.
Heterogeneous auditory–visual integration: Effects of pitch, band-width and visual eccentricity
Authors: Thelen Antonia , Murray Micah M. 
Published: November 2012

The identification of monosynaptic connections between primary cortices in non-human primates has recently been complemented by observations of early-latency and low-level non-linear interactions in brain responses in humans as well as observations of facilitative effects of multisensory stimuli on behavior/performance in both humans and monkeys. While there is some evidence in favor of causal links between early–latency interactions within low-level cortices and behavioral facilitation, it remains unknown if such effects are subserved by direct anatomical connections between primary cortices. In non-human primates, the above monosynaptic projections from primary auditory cortex terminate within peripheral visual field representations within primary visual cortex, suggestive of there being a potential bias for the integration of eccentric visual stimuli and pure tone (vs. broad-band) sounds. To date, behavioral effects in humans (and monkeys) have been observed after presenting (para)foveal stimuli with any of a range of auditory stimuli from pure tones to noise bursts. The present study aimed to identify any heterogeneity in the integration of auditory–visual stimuli. To this end, we employed a 3 × 3 within subject design that varied the visual eccentricity of an annulus (2.5°, 5.7°, 8.9°) and auditory pitch (250, 1000, 4000 Hz) of multisensory stimuli while subjects completed a simple detection task. We also varied the auditory bandwidth (pure tone vs. pink noise) across blocks of trials that a subject completed. To ensure attention to both modalities, multisensory stimuli were equi-probable with both unisensory visual and unisensory auditory trials that themselves varied along the abovementioned dimensions. Median reaction times for each stimulus condition as well as the percentage gain/loss of each multisensory condition vs. the best constituent unisensory condition were measured. The preliminary results reveal that multisensory interactions (as measured from simple reaction times) are indeed heterogeneous across the tested dimensions and may provide a means for delimiting the anatomo-functional substrates of behaviorally-relevant early–latency neural response interactions. Interestingly, preliminary results suggest selective interactions for visual stimuli when presented with broadband stimuli but not when presented with pure tones. More precisely, centrally presented visual stimuli show the greatest index of multisensory facilitation when coupled to a high pitch tone embedded in pink noise, while visual stimuli presented at approximately 5.7° of visual angle show the greatest slowing of reaction times.
Natural scenes have matched amplitude-modulated sounds that systematically influence visual scanning
Authors: Grabowecky Marcia , Sherman Aleksandra , Suzuki Satoru 
Published: November 2012

We have previously demonstrated a linear perceptual relationship between auditory amplitude-modulation (AM) rate and visual spatial-frequency using gabors as the visual stimuli. Can this frequency-based auditory–visual association influence perception of natural scenes? Participants consistently matched specific auditory AM rates to diverse visual scenes (nature, urban, and indoor). A correlation analysis indicated that higher subjective density ratings were associated with faster AM-rate matches. Furthermore, both the density ratings and AM-rate matches were relatively scale invariant, suggesting that the underlying crossmodal association is between visual coding of object-based density and auditory coding of AM rate. Based on these results, we hypothesized that concurrently presented fast (7 Hz) or slow (2 Hz) AM-rates might influence how visual attention is allocated to dense or sparse regions within a scene. We tested this hypothesis by monitoring eye movements while participants examined scenes for a subsequent memory task. To determine whether fast or slow sounds guided eye movements to specific spatial frequencies, we computed the maximum contrast energy at each fixation across 12 spatial frequency bands ranging from 0.06–10.16 cycles/degree. We found that the fast sound significantly guided eye movements toward regions of high spatial frequency, whereas the slow sound guided eye movements away from regions of high spatial frequency. This suggests that faster sounds may promote a local scene scanning strategy, acting as a ‘filter’ to individuate objects within dense regions. Our results suggest that auditory AM rate and visual object density are crossmodally associated, and that this association can modulate visual inspection of scenes.
Haptic object recognition is influenced by the orientation of the body relative to gravity
Authors: Barnett-Cowan Michael , Culham Jody C. , Snow Jacqueline C. 
Published: November 2012

The orientation at which objects are most easily recognized — the perceptual upright (PU) — is influenced by body orientation with respect to gravity. To date, the influence of these cues on object recognition has only been measured within the visual system. Here we investigate whether objects explored through touch alone are similarly influenced by body and gravitational information. Using the Oriented CHAracter Recognition Test (OCHART) adapted for haptics, blindfolded right-handed observers indicated whether the symbol ‘p’ presented in various orientations was the letter ‘p’ or ‘d’ following active touch. The average of ‘p-to-d’ and ‘d-to-p’ transitions was taken as the haptic PU. Sensory information was manipulated by positioning observers in different orientations relative to gravity with the head, body, and hand aligned. Results show that haptic object recognition is equally influenced by body and gravitational references frames, but with a constant leftward bias. This leftward bias in the haptic PU resembles leftward biases reported for visual object recognition. The influence of body orientation and gravity on the haptic PU was well predicted by an equally weighted vectorial sum of the directions indicated by these cues. Our results demonstrate that information from different reference frames influence the perceptual upright in haptic object recognition. Taken together with similar investigations in vision, our findings suggest that reliance on body and gravitational frames of reference helps maintain optimal object recognition. Equally relying on body and gravitational information may facilitate haptic exploration with an upright posture, while compensating for poor vestibular sensitivity when tilted.
Inter-hemispheric interaction of touches at the fingers: A combined psychophysics and TMS approach
Authors: Tamè Luigi , Johnstone Tom , Holmes Nicholas P. 
Published: November 2012

Many studies have investigated interactions in the processing of tactile stimuli across different fingers. However, the precise time-scale of these interactions when stimuli arrive on opposite sides of the body remains uncertain. Specifically, it is not clear how tactile stimulation of different fingers of the same and different hands can interact with each other. The aim of the present study was to address this issue using a novel approach combining the QUEST threshold estimation method with single pulse TMS (spTMS). First, QUEST was used in a two-interval forced-choice design in order to establish threshold for detecting a 200 ms, 100 Hz sinusoidal vibration applied to the index fingertip (target finger threshold). This was done either when the target was presented in isolation, or concurrently with a distractor stimulus on another finger of the same or a different hand. Second, the same participants underwent a series of MRI scans (localisers) to produce somatotopic maps of SI and SII cortices. These maps were used to stimulate over SI with spTMS during a subsequent behavioural task, with the aim of modulating the behavioural interactions between the different fingers. The results showed that the threshold for detecting the target was lower when it was presented in isolation, as compared to when a concurrent distractor was present. Moreover, detection thresholds varied as a function of the distractor finger stimulated. The differential effect of the distractor finger on target detection thresholds is consistent with the segregation of different fingers in early somatosensory processing, from the periphery to SI.
Investigations into visually-induced somatic amplification
Authors: McKenzie Kirsten J. , Poliakoff Ellen , Puntis Stephen , Lawrence Adam , Brown Richard J. , Lloyd Donna M. 
Published: November 2012

Studies into tactile detection have found that a simultaneous light stimulus affects judgments of the presence or absence of a near threshold tactile stimulus, leading to higher numbers of false alarms, whereby participants report feeling a touch in the absence of a stimulus, as well as modest improvements in tactile sensitivity (Lloydet al., 2008; McKenzieet al., 2010, 2012). Anecdotally, the reported intensity of the bi-modal stimuli was also enhanced — an effect that was investigated in the current studies. In Experiment 1 participants discriminated between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ tactile stimuli, which were accompanied by a light flash on 50% of trials. We observed a bias towards classifying light-present vibrations as ‘strong’ regardless of signal strength, as well as some evidence for improved accuracy in discrimination. In Experiment 2, participants gave a subjective intensity rating on a 6-point scale, which showed an increase in magnitude ratings for both ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ vibrotactile stimuli when the light was present. This shows that a simultaneous light can both improve tactile discrimination and lead to both types of tactile stimulus being rated as stronger. Primary somatosensory cortex may underlie these effects, as it receives direct projections from visual cortex and indirect projections from association areas of the brain. However, it is as yet unclear whether or not these effects are due to the same underlying mechanism, or at which processing stage they occur. Therefore, we are currently exploring the neural underpinnings of this amplification effect using both fMRI and EEG.
Auditory–visual, positional, and semantic effects in visual extraction of slope
Authors: Grabowecky Marcia , Parrott Stacey , Guzman-Martinez Emmanuel , Ortega Laura , Suzuki Satoru 
Published: November 2012

Extracting slopes from arrays of visual features is crucial for interpreting graphs. To understand broader influences on slope perception, we investigated the effects of concurrent sounds, of relative graph location, and of semantic priming on a visual search task in which observers searched for a graph with a positive or negative slope. Four bar graphs or scatter plots were simultaneously presented in separate quadrants of a visual display. Participants pressed a key as quickly as possible if one of the graphs displayed the target slope and otherwise refrained from response. A concurrently presented ascending pitch slowed responses to negative-slope targets, and concurrently presented descending pitch slowed responses to positive-slope targets, indicating crossmodal interference. This interference was eliminated when the sounds were presented 200 ms before the graphs, consistent with crossmodal interaction rather than response bias. Positive slopes were detected slowest in the upper-left quadrant whereas negative slopes were detected slowest in the upper-right quadrant, suggesting that slope detection is impeded when a graph is placed inconsistently with a mental number-line representation (negative values on the left and positive values on the right). Finally, positive slopes were detected faster when the search display was immediately preceded by a briefly flashed word ‘uphill’ compared to the word ‘downhill’ (and the converse for negative slopes), indicating a semantic priming effect, but this was observed only for scatter plots (the stimulus specificity precluding response bias). In summary, perception of visual slope is systematically influenced by auditory signals, by location of graphs, and by semantic priming.
Migraine, motion sensitivity, and temporal binding
Authors: Hullar Timothy E. , Malone Alexander K. , Smith Spencer B. , Chang Nai-Yuan N. 
Published: November 2012

Little is known about vestibular-related timing processes in patients with disequilibrium. Patients with a history of migraine headaches often complain of significant motion sensitivity and long-term vague imbalance inconsistent with a peripheral vestibular disorder. Some of these people have episodic spells of severe vertigo termed ‘vestibular migraines’. Other patients have no history of migraine but do report significant motion sensitivity. Motion sensitivity has typically been explained as a mismatch between the amplitude of vestibular and other (typically visual) sensory inputs. Another possibility is that motion sensitive patients may suffer from a mismatch in the temporal integration of vestibular and other sensory inputs. Here, we compared the temporal binding window (TBW) of vestibular + auditory stimuli in normal subjects, subjects with motion sensitivity, and those with both migraine and motion sensitivity. We asked subjects undergoing earth-vertical sinusoidal rotations at 0.5 Hz, 128°/s to identify whether a metronome-like series of tone bursts was synchronous with their cyclic motion. We calculated the TBW as the range in time encompassing the middle 68% of the area under the psychometric curve. The TBW in normal subjects was 312 ± 135 ms (mean ± SD), in subjects with motion sensitivity was 454 ± 103 ms, and in subjects with migraine and motion sensitivity was 451 ± 124 ms. The TBW of normal subjects was significantly shorter than the other groups. Temporal errors in perception, as manifested by a prolongation of the TBW, are a plausible mechanism for imbalance in patients with migraine and motion sensitivity.
The structure of self-experience during visuo–tactile stimulation of a virtual and the physical body
Authors: Dobricki Martin , Mohler Betty J. , Bülthoff Heinrich H. 
Published: November 2012

The simultaneous visuo–tactile stimulation of an individual’s body and a virtual body (avatar) is an experimental method used to investigate the mechanisms of self-experience. Studies incorporating this method found that it elicits the experience of bodily ownership over the avatar. Moreover, as part of our own research we found that it also has an effect on the experience of agency, spatial presence, as well as on the perception of self-motion, and thus on self-localization. However, it has so far not been investigated whether these effects represent distinct categories within conscious experience. We stroked the back of 21 male participants for three minutes while they watched an avatar getting synchronously stroked within a virtual city in a head-mounted display setup. Subsequently, we assessed their avatar and their spatial presence experience with 23 questionnaire items. The analysis of the responses to all items by means of nonmetric multidimensional scaling resulted in a two-dimensional map (stress = 0.151) on which three distinct categories of items could be identified: a cluster (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.89) consisting of all presence items, a cluster (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88) consisting of agency-related items, and a cluster (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93) consisting of items related to body ownership as well as self-localization. The reason that spatial presence formed a distinct category could be that body ownership, self-localization and agency are not reported in relation to space. Body ownership and self-localization belonged to the same category which we named identification phenomena. Hence, we propose the following three higher-order categories of self-experience: identification, agency, and spatial presence.
Printing for Prestige? Publishing and Publications by Ming Princes Part 3
Authors: Kerlouégan Jérôme 
Published: November 2012

AbstractScattered throughout the realm in a great number of provincial courts, Ming imperial clansmen did not wield political or military power. Some among them therefore used their energies to publish books; indeed, the publishing activities of the Ming princes constitute one of many elements of what can be termed “princely culture.” Even though princely imprints formed an insignificant proportion of Ming publications, a large number of them have survived to our day. Based on the examination of approximately 240 such editions, this essay explores the relationships between the princes and the literati who assisted them. It raises questions central to princely publishing: How learned were the princes? What books did they publish? For which audiences and with what objectives? What are the main characteristics of princely publications? Did princes have well-defined publishing strategies? The last section of the essay addresses the heritage of Ming princely publications in the Qing dynasty.Parts 1 and 2 of this essay were published in East Asian Publishing and Society 1:1 and 1:2. Tables will follow in the next issue.
THE EVOLUTION IN SPANISH LAW OF STATE IMMUNITY LEADING TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE RESTRICTIVE THEORY
Authors: Soria Jiménez Alberto 
Published: November 2012

SUMMARY Judgment 107/1992 of the Spanish Constitutional Court has not only cleared up any possible doubts about the alleged unconstitutionality of State immunities and it has discarded any possible contradictions that these immunities might have with art. 24.1 of the Spanish Constitution.. Judgment 107/1992 has also directly linked the right to due process of law with the correct jurisdictional application of the international rules to which art. 21.2 of the LOPJ remits. The Constitutional Court feels that extending immunity from enforcement to foreign State property beyond the provisions of Public International Law violates the right to due process because it limits the right to enforcement of judgments without any legal support. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court points out that when the rules of Public International Law impose absolute immunity from enforcement, the aforementioned right is not violated. That in these cases, this right might be guaranteed by diplomatic protection or, as a last resort, by an assumption by the forum State of its duty to satisfy judicially mandated obligations when the absence of enforcement of these might imply undue sacrifice for an individual contrary to the principle of equality before public burdens. Therefore it seems wise for the Spanish State to establish some procedure which would prevent the recognition of immunity would also be highly recommendable for Spain to enact a statute containing a list of exceptions to State immunity as soon as possible. It is the executive branch, therefore, that should resolve this situation by proposing a bill on this issue and perhaps, as a complementary measure, by ratifying the European Convention on State Immunity.
Global Diyanet and Multiple Networks: Turkey’s New Presence in the Balkans
Authors: Öktem Kerem 
Published: November 2012

Abstract
Turkey’s relations with the Muslim communities of Southeast Europe have changed significantly since the early 2000s, when Turkish actors largely replaced Wahhabi and Salafi missionaries. This paper discusses four domains of the new Turkish presence: The intellectual and political networks in the Balkans around Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu; non-conventional foreign policy actors of the Turkish state such as the Turkish Development Agency (TIKA) and the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet); and finally Islamic grassroots organisations, such as the Gülen movement. United by a common imaginary of neo-Ottomanism’, these actors have contributed to the strengthening of the established Islamic communities and to the visibility of the Ottoman tradition of Hanafi Islam in the Balkans.
Compensation under International Law in Cases of Treaty Breach Resulting in Impairment of Business Performance
Authors: Söderlund Christer 
Published: November 2012

A situation which has occurred in a string of fairly recent investment cases that raises the matter of quantification is one where the investor’s investment in the host state has taken the form of a local subsidiary and where certain state conduct has reduced its business prospects. This situation is, then, clearly distinguishable from one where the investor is deprived of the business altogether in a manner tantamount to expropriation. In this latter case, it is the rule that the investor is compensated by way of a lump sum payment somehow based on earnings that could be expected in the future but for the breaching conduct.
But is compensation of a lump sum amount appropriate in the alternative of business impairment? In that scenario, the challenge of determining compensation is compounded by the need to assess not only one future income stream as a basis for a DCF calculation but two hypothetical income streams, in the ”as is” scenario and in the ”but for” scenario, exacerbating the margin of error to a significant degree.
The view argued in this article is that in cases where business is impaired by treaty-breaching conduct by a state, the quantification should be limited to past time. It will exclude an excessively speculative element and it will provide an incentive for the state to re-instate a situation that would exist but for the breach.
A Critical Examination of Rule 41(5) of the ICSID Arbitration Rules, 2006
Authors: Chatterjee C. 
Published: November 2012

What is an investment under the International Convention on Settlement of Investment Dispute between States and Nationals of Other States, 1965 (the ICSID Convention) has, since its inception, provoked controversy; indeed in most of the matters referred to ICSID tribunals, Respondents contested the jurisdiction of ICSID tribunals primarily on the grounds that the subject matters of the disputes did not satisfy the criteria of an investment dispute under Article 25, paragraph 1 of the Convention.
In 2006, paragraphs (5) and (6) of Rule 41 of ICSID Arbitration Rules were amended with a view to establishing what may be described as a “screening process” to ensure that unmeritorious claims are not forwarded to tribunals. However, the amended rules also present certain legal problems; it is the purpose of this Article to examine those problems.