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Where dread registers in the brain
By LEE BOWMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
04-MAY-06
"The worst part of it is the waiting."
It's a sentiment shared in such varied circumstances as soldiers preparing for an assault to civilians bracing for a turn in the dentist's chair.
Now, for the first time, scientists using brain-imaging technology have locked on the corner of the brain that fills us full of dread as we anticipate pain or another bad outcome _ and often makes us act irrationally just to get it all behind us.
The research has applications for economic theory as well as for health and pain management. It found, perhaps not surprisingly, that the area of brain activity related to dread overlaps areas of the organ known to be associated with pain.
"Most people don't like waiting for an unpleasant outcome and want to get it over with as soon as possible," said Dr. Gregory Berns, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and lead author of the study, published Friday in the journal Science.
"The only explanation for this is that the dread of having something hanging over your head is worse than the thing that you're dreading. It is a commonplace experience, but standard economic models of decision-making don't deal with this issue," Berns explained.
"So, we decided to take a biological approach and see what happens in the brain that might cause people to make such rash decisions."
The study participants included 18 men and 14 women, ages 19 to 49. The volunteers had their brain activity monitored by a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Each person received a series of low-voltage shocks to one foot, with different levels of intensity and time delays for each jolt.
Each participant was screened to determine his or her maximum pain threshold. While in the scanner, each person got a total of 96 shocks. But before each zap, the subject was told how painful the shock would be (as a percentage of the person's top threshold) and how long he or she would have to wait for it.
After the scanning, each volunteer was then given another round of shocks. He or she was given a choice between different intensity-delay combinations, with the choice always between more pain sooner or less pain later.
For instance, the choice might be 90 percent of the top jolt in three seconds, or 60 percent in 27 seconds. The degree to which an individual picked a higher voltage sooner served as an indicator of the dread he experienced from waiting.
Most volunteers _ 27 _ chose shorter delays more than half the time, indicating that they dreaded the wait. But nine participants dreaded the wait so much that they consistently were willing to take a lot more pain just to avoid waiting. Berns labeled these the "extreme dreaders." Those who disliked the delay but were more cautious about trading off to a worse jolt were dubbed the "mild dreaders."
In the brain scans, dread was found in areas of the brain's pain network linked to attention. That's significant, Berns said, because it suggests that dread is not as simple as fear or anxiety _ emotions controlled by different brain regions.
The mild and extreme dreaders had different patterns of brain activity associated with the pain. The extremes showed more intense and earlier activity in the attentional parts compared to the mild dreaders.
"The key factor seems to be that extreme dreaders devoted more attention toward the part of their body that was about to be shocked," Berns said. "Taken together, the anatomical locations of dread responses suggest that the subjective experience of dread that ultimately drives an individual's behavior comes from the attention devoted to the expected physical response, and not simply a fear or anxiety response."
As George Loewenstein, a researcher in human decision-making at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, put it in an accompanying commentary: "The information that one is going to receive a shock, like the shock itself, seems to be a source of misery."
Although the time frames of seconds in the experiment may not be the same kind of interval that people normally take for making economic decisions, Loewenstein said it does challenge the economic tenets that people prefer to expedite things that are expected to have a pleasant outcome while deferring events they expect will be unpleasant.
Berns said the findings also show that dread can be lessened by diverting attention.
"The dread associated with things like medical procedures or public speaking, while real, can probably be alleviated by diverting one's attention during the waiting period," he said, citing tools that might range from meditation to exercise or even taking in a movie.
On the Net: http://www.sciencemag.org
(Contact Lee Bowman at BowmanL(at)SHNS.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)
 |  | Your air conditioner may be making you fat. Still no cure for sitting on the couch eating junk food instead of going outside and exercising |
Put a hippie to work in '06'!
I am running for State Representative of the 150th District of the State of Missouri, as a Libertarian candidate.
"Liberty and justice for all" means "tolerance of all."
If it's not JUST, it's not JUSTICE.
The people need a voice so they can have a choice.
"United we stand, divided we fall."
So help Put a Hippie to Work in '06'!
For interviews, public speaking engagements, or to contact me you can e-mail me here.
For my stance on some of the current issues, visit my Views page!
To donate by credit card online, click the link above.
You may also send checks or money orders payable to:
Circle of Friends For Chief Wana Dubie
121 E. 4th St.
Salem, MO 65560
Please include your name, address, and employer with each contribution.
Contributions are limited to $325 per individual or legal entity.
Thanks for your support.
I'm ready to work for you Missouri!
Sincerely,
Chief Wana Dubie
Link (Thanks, Josh!)I came across this "flex your rights" video which uses dramatizations with actors to illustrate how you can protect yourself using 4th, 5th, and 6th ammendment rights during commonplace encounters with police.
Update: Kris sez, "I believe that the video is not from the ACLU, just that the narrator used to work for them."
Update 2: Thomas sez, "The ACLU has several pamphlets available for download that explain your rights when stopped by the police. One is pocket-sized to keep in your glove compartment. They are available in several different languages, including Spanish and Arabic."
This walkthrough will illustrate how to install Damn Small Linux (DSL) to a USB memory stick through windows.
You'll need the following:
64 MB or larger USB memory stick
Damn Small Linux
HP USB tool (for formatting the stick)
Syslinux V2.11
The Process:
The first step is to Download the HP USB tool and format your stick with the tool using the FAT option (quick format is fine)
Download the dsl-embedded.zip (you can get it Here)
Extract the files from dsl-embedded.zip to your USB memory stick.
Download and extract syslinux.zip to a directory on your computer.
Run the command prompt in windows (start/run/cmd) and CD to the syslinux directory. Once there simply type syslinux.exe F: (F: being the example drive letter of the USB stick in this system)
Reboot your PC, go into your system BIOS and set your boot order to boot from any selectable USB device. (example USBZIP)
Save your BIOS settings. On the next reboot, you should have a sucessful launch of Damn Small Linux from your USB memory stick.
Enjoy! 
_________________
Author: ~The Pendrive Doctor~
Article Source: http://www.pendrivelinux.com
September 9, 2003
The Good Eats Custom Corrugated Vapor Colloid Applicator (Cardboard Box Smoker)
Key: a) heavy-duty corrugated box (no interior painting) b) flap door c) electric hot plate d) small cast-iron skillet e) hardwood sawdust (no pressure-treated wood or plywood allowed) f) small battery-operated fan (optional) g) 2 quarter-inch wooden dowels inserted through box in parallel fashion h) oven rack i) target food (fish skin-side down) j) thermometers (although probe styles are shown, standard stem models may be used in a pinch) k) thermometer probes (one in the box, the other in the fish)
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NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - We were sitting in a Manhattan living room on a spring afternoon, and Warren Buffett had a Cherry Coke in his hand as usual. But this unremarkable scene was about to take a surprising turn.
"Brace yourself," Buffett warned with a grin. He then described a momentous change in his thinking. Within months, he said, he would begin to give away his Berkshire Hathaway fortune, then and now worth well over $40 billion.
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This news was indeed stunning. Buffett, 75, has for decades said his wealth would go to philanthropy but has just as steadily indicated the handoff would be made at his death. Now he was revising the timetable.
"I know what I want to do," he said, "and it makes sense to get going." On that spring day his plan was uncertain in some of its details; today it is essentially complete. And it is typical Buffett: rational, original, breaking the mold of how extremely rich people donate money.
Buffett has pledged to gradually give 85% of his Berkshire stock to five foundations. A dominant five-sixths of the shares will go to the world's largest philanthropic organization, the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose principals are close friends of Buffett's (a connection that began in 1991, when a mutual friend introduced Buffett and Bill Gates).
The Gateses credit Buffett, says Bill, with having "inspired" their thinking about giving money back to society. Their foundation's activities, internationally famous, are focused on world health -- fighting such diseases as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis -- and on improving U.S. libraries and high schools.
Up to now, the two Gateses have been the only trustees of their foundation. But as his plan gets underway, Buffett will be joining them. Bill Gates says he and his wife are "thrilled" by that and by knowing that Buffett's money will allow the foundation to "both deepen and accelerate" its work. "The generosity and trust Warren has shown," Gates adds, "is incredible." Beginning in July and continuing every year, Buffett will give a set, annually declining number of Berkshire B shares - starting with 602,500 in 2006 and then decreasing by 5% per year - to the five foundations. The gifts to the Gates foundation will be made either by Buffett or through his estate as long as at least one of the pair -- Bill, now 50, or Melinda, 41 -- is active in it.
Berkshire's price on the date of each gift will determine its dollar value. Were B shares, for example, to be $3,071 in July - that was their close on June 23 - Buffett's 2006 gift to the foundation, 500,000 shares, would be worth about $1.5 billion. With so much new money to handle, the foundation will be given two years to resize its operations. But it will then be required by the terms of Buffett's gift to annually spend the dollar amount of his contributions as well as those it is already making from its existing assets. At the moment, $1.5 billion would roughly double the foundation's yearly benefactions. But the $1.5 billion has little relevance to the value of Buffett's future gifts, since their amount will depend on the price of Berkshire's stock when they are made. If the stock rises yearly, on average, by even a modest amount - say, 6% - the gain will more than offset the annual 5% decline in the number of shares given. Under those circumstances, the value of Buffett's contributions will rise.
Buffett himself thinks that will happen. Or to state that proposition more directly: He believes the price of Berkshire, and with it the dollar size of the contributions, will trend upward - perhaps over time increasing substantially. The other foundation gifts that Buffett is making will also occur annually and start in July. At Berkshire's current price, the combined 2006 total of these gifts will be $315 million. The contributions will go to foundations headed by Buffett's three children, Susan, Howard, and Peter, and to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.
This last foundation was for 40 years known simply as the Buffett Foundation and was recently renamed in honor of Buffett's late wife, Susie, who died in 2004, at 72, after a stroke. Her will bestows about $2.5 billion on the foundation, to which her husband's gifts will be added. The foundation has mainly focused on reproductive health, family planning, and pro-choice causes, and on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Counting the gifts to all five foundations, Buffett will gradually but sharply reduce his holdings of Berkshire (Charts) stock. He now owns close to 31% of the company-worth nearly $44 billion in late June - and that proportion will ultimately be cut to around 5%. Sticking to his long-term intentions, Buffett says the residual 5%, worth about $6.8 billion today, will in time go for philanthropy also, perhaps in his lifetime and, if not, at his death.
Because the value of Buffett's gifts are tied to a future, unknowable price of Berkshire, there is no way to put a total dollar value on them. But the number of shares earmarked to be given have a huge value today: $37 billion.
That alone would be the largest philanthropic gift in history. And if Buffett is right in thinking that Berkshire's price will trend upward, the eventual amount given could far exceed that figure.
So that's the plan. What follows is a conversation in which Buffett explains how he moved away from his original thinking and decided to begin giving now. The questioner is yours truly, FORTUNE editor-at-large Carol Loomis. I am a longtime friend of Buffett's, a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, and a director of the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.
Many online information sources, including web sites, weblogs and news services, now broadcast their content to the web in so-called “syndicated feeds” or “news feeds” with new technologies like Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and ATOM. News aggregator software and services collect those syndicated feeds and present them to end users in a variety of ways.
So, you need a news aggregator. I’m not going to list them all and describe how to use them. I’m only going to point you to one aggregator I love, and think is SO EASY to use. If you are new to news feeds, this is your best bet. There is nothing to download–it’s an easy-to-use web interface It’s call Bloglines. And no, I’m not affiliated with them.
Here’s what to do:
1. Go to Bloglines.com.
2. Sign up for a free account.
3. Go to the My Feeds page.
4. Key “googletutor.com” into the URL field
There you go! Now whenever you bring up Bloglines you’ll see in the My Feeds section if there are any new articles to read.
Why go to Bloglines to check for our articles when you could just come directly to Googletutor.com instead? Because you can subscribe to many other feeds at Bloglines so when you go there you can instantly see if any of your favorite blogs have new articles. I find that I go check Bloglines several times a day.
I am not a fan of these In-Text ads, as you know. I think they’re intrusive, misleading and undermine the whole concept of linking, which is what has brought the Internet this far. One of my concerns is that since these ads rely on hooking up with particular words in the text, questions have to be raised about whether the provider of that text (I’m trying not to say “content” here) is skewing what they write to raise the number of words that ad sponsors have signed up for.
So I couldn’t help wondering whether it was the case here, on the blog of one Joel Comm, Internet marketing guru and expert on making the most out of, er, Internet advertising. The post is actually a (quite justifiable) rant against the smug robotics of your average cashier and attendant in stores who are programmed to ask “Are you finding everything okay?” whenever they see a customer who isn’t actually dead. But I couldn’t help wondering whether Joel’s rant had a secondary purpose when I noticed a lot of the words he was using — MP3 players, video games, dryers, stock — were contextual ad triggers for Kontera, his in-text ad provider of choice:
Legitimate rant? Or clever revenue-raising ploy? You decide.
Do you waste time checking 6 different email accounts with 6 different applications? The Google Tutor has a rundown on how to consolidate and manage them all from Gmail.
We couldn't possibly sing the praises of Gmail any more, and this is probably old hat to most power Gmailers. But with a new email account around every corner these days, it's a good reminder to stop and get it all in once place without having to change your address.
Got some old cordless phones? You know, the big paperweights that you once thought were sooo cool?
Well, now you can turn them into walkie-talkies. Instructables has a great little tutorial that walks you right through the process; this would be a great one for kids to help out with. Plus, Voltron the Space Commander would look way more intimidating with a cordless in the treehouse.
Ann Coulter on UK BBC Newsnight interview with Jeremy Paxman<
YouTube - Ann Coulter on UK BBC Newsnight interview with Jeremy Paxman
Blogged with Flock
Monday, 19. June 2006, 23:56:55
The full PDF of my book, 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google, is now available on 55fun.com. As the book is Creative Commons licensed, you are encouraged to copy, read, share, remix, convert, quote, browse, and print the PDF to your liking. If you do create conversions, e.g. an HTML version, please send me the URL so I can link to it from 55fun.com.
The PDF of 55 Ways to Have Fun ... by Philipp Lenssen |
The Positive Sharing blog has a good read on how not to lead geeks from earlier this year. The ten points are:
You’d think most of those are obvious, but from my past jobs I can say they’re definitely not.
I want to add my own ten points of how not to lead geeks to the list:
[Thanks Markus Renschler.]
How Not to Lead Geeks by Philipp Lenssen |
Performancing just released version 1.1 of their Firefox extension. The extension allows any blogger to author posts, retrieve page data, and save bookmarks to social bookmarking sites directly from the Firefox web browser.
Once the extension is installed you can press the F8 key or the status bar icon to view other blogs talking about the current page.
The extension also supports pinging Technorati directly from the blog editing interface so we may index your new post even faster.
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 18,200 KB  90 min @ 28.8 KbpsSee all downloads in the Download Center |
Traffic Building Articles
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The internet is growing to enormous proportions and trying to establishing your own E-commerce site is not like what it used to be. There are now thousands of sites competing for a bigger share of the pie. So every scheme and method you can find to increase your sales would be very beneficial as a site owner.
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technorati tags:seo, site, website, traffic
Blogged with Flock
No. No joke. Paxman was a mess.
Eh, Jazza gave the subject more seriousness than it deserved. Now, Coulter was a mess. Illogical, arrogant, avoided answering the questions with more than sound bites. Honestly, if this is the level of political discourse over there, no wonder America's such a mess.
Now I know that we Americans are backward and we have our quaint old-fashioned beliefs. However, I do have questions about the undeniable, scientifically proven account of the origin of life that you Europeans have discovered and revealed to the world. There are a few things that I just can’t resolve in my unsophisticated, colonial mind about Darwinism. But, I know that you “sons of the Enlightenment” across the pond will be able to illuminate me on these matters. Let’s just start with what’s probably my most basic question. How does Darwinism explain the development of irreducibly complex organs such as the eye, or ear? That is, those organs that if reduced by any one of its components would cease to function as a whole. For instance, the eye. Which of its components evolved first? The retina, rods and cones, or the optic nerve? In the case of the ear, was it the tympanic membrane, cochlea, or the cochlear nerve? I have learned that the twin engines of Darwinism are random mutation and natural selection. That a beneficial mutation gives an organism survival benefits over those of its kind that it will replace through natural selection. Darwinism also tells us that genetic mutations happen on a very small scale and that many would be required over time to build complex evolutionary advances. It’s just the chronology that is puzzling to me. That is if, as regards the eye, one of our ancestors was born with a mutation of light sensitive cells somewhere on its body, how would that have given it survival advantages over those of its kind that didn’t have the mutation? You see, if there wasn’t an optic nerve to carry the sensor information to the brain from these light sensitive cells, what advantage exactly was it that this ancestor had over others in its family? What use could this ancestor have made of the light information being received if it never made it to its brain for processing? How would this mutation have benefited the propagation of this mutant’s offspring, while others of its kind without the mutation died off? This question could be asked of any macrosystem within an animal such as the immune, or blood clotting systems. Just as well, it could be asked at the cellular level. There are so many interdependent components of a cell, that it seems in order to form just a one-celled organism would be impossible. This is just one question I have regarding Darwinism. Since I know that this is science and not just based on mere conjecture, but hard fact; you’ll easily be able to help me put down the challenges of religious idiots like Ann Coulter. I also know that questioning authority is a guiding principle of enlightened people; I see the bumper sticker all the time. For some reason here in America, the obvious answers to the proven facts behind Darwinism are not being communicated to us. It’s probably George W. Bush and his ilk that are keeping the truth from us. To keep us ignorant and pliant so that he and his cronies can hoard the world supply of oil for themselves. Please help by arming us with the necessary ammunition to combat this hatred of science. Sophisticated people such as you Europeans love intellectual debate, so this should be fun. Especially since you have the facts of science on your side. Oh, and when you answer this question, I have many others to follow.
Thanks,
Your friend in the American Theocracy
krimp, if it makes no sense that a creature would have evolved an array of sensing cells without a system to transport information, then assume the system to transport came first. this is what science does. it asks a question, then looks at examples and uses logic to postulate an answer. i am no biologist, and i do not speak for all scientists, but i do have an understanding of what the scientific process is. the reason why science is better than religion is that science has a system which demands constant questioning and revision of held beliefs. you would say that people who hold a darwin-derived belief of the existance of complex life have stopped questioning its validity, and this is simply not true. but it is true that logically some version of evolution makes more sense than any intelligent design theory.
my question to you would be: if we were/are intelligently designed and mutation serves no good purpose, why does spontaneous mutation happen at all?
thanks,
your friend in science
agentzero, thank you for your very civil and thoughtful response.
First off, let me say that with the arguments you’ve listed, you would have made the very point that Ann Coulter has put forth. That is, that Darwinism is far from proven science, and is taken by its adherents on faith. This you did when you asked me to “assume”, for that “is what science does”. It is true that part of the scientific method involves assumption(formulating a hypothesis). But, that is only the first stage. It is followed by gathering observable, empirical, and measurable evidence, subject to the laws of reasoning. Unfortunately for Darwinism, there has been precious little empirical evidence gathered in the more than 150 years since it was popularized. What little evidence that has been gathered in the process can easily be used against it. A priori assumption without the facts is simply faith. Belief in something unproven.
Furthermore, when you requested I “assume” the transport system(optic nerve) came first in the development of the eye, you’re simply playing a shell game. Reversing their chronology does not make the problem for Darwinism go away. You see, what benefit would an optic nerve be to an organism without the useful sensor information of the photosensitive cells? It’s is like having a computer and Ethernet cable without the Internet connection. Useless for observing the outside world. Darwinism contends that random mutations are responsible for evolutionary progress only when they give an advantage to one species member over another. Natural selection will enable this mutant’s offspring to out-populate its non-mutated cousin. In addition, you’ve black-boxed the evolutionary development of the complex optic nerve and its interface to the brain. This is very common among Darwin’s adherents…details are not important.
You stated “science is better than religion”. I concur that “true” science is more trustworthy than religion. Unfortunately for Darwinism, it appears to be more of a religion than “true” science. All assumption(faith), and no empirical evidence. There are growing numbers of scientists who believe its going the way of its predecessor, Spontaneous Generation. Yet, pop culture and the education community are lagging behind. The free thinkers today with the best arguments are questioning the very foundations of Darwinism. Like Gallileo, it takes courage to confront the Church of Darwin. It is very powerful, with its ability to stifle dissent through the awarding of tenure and grants in the scientific community.
You postulated that “logically some version of evolution makes more sense than any intelligent design theory”. Really? Can you give me solid proof you have(empirical evidence) behind this statement? Just give me an example of a very simple system, machine, plant, or animal, that just came into being without the intervention of a designer with intelligence. All technology and inventions require a designer with intelligence to come up with the initial idea and then fabricate and implement that idea. The watch, airplane, automobile, computer…whatever. These are also, by the way, very crude and simple when compared to the human being. Yet, you ask me to believe that these things could be created out of randomly connected events without any guiding intelligence? Where is the logic in that? It has never been observed as far as I know.
Finally, as to your last question, “if we were/are intelligently designed and mutation serves no good purpose, why does spontaneous mutation happen at all?” This is a non sequitur. I’ve never said mutation cannot serve a “good”, or beneficial purpose. Clearly, there are some genetic mutations that are beneficial in the proper environment. For instance, the sickle cell trait helps those in malaria infested regions of the world propagate better than those without it. However, it is devastating to populations outside of malaria prone areas. Natural Selection does take place, no doubt. However, its only ever been observed within a species, never trans-species. Those with or without the sickle cell trait are still humans. Genetic manipulation has been practiced since the beginning of time to breed beneficial characteristics in organisms. Of course, it almost always takes intelligence to breed a beneficial gene pool. Random genetic mutations happen all of the time; most are detrimental. Transmission of genetic material is not perfect. But it’s a great “leap of faith” to think that genetic mutation has brought life to its ultimate form in human beings. My question to you would be…when have you observered a new species created through random mutation without intelligent intervention?
thanks,
your friend in determining the difference between science and faith
To Krimp,
There are valid scientific responses to the 'irreducable complexity' argument. You are unlikely to find them by posting on blogs, as most of us alas, have not spent years of our lives learning about biology. Luckily for us, some people have and as part of the scientific method they publish their results for peer review, and so we can find out about them.
If you genuinely want to know why 'irreducable complexity' is not regarded as a problem for evolution for Scientists then I suggest you do some reading. Here are a few websites to get you started in the right direction, but here has been alot of work on evolution so you could literally spend a lifetime reading all the all the evidence and studies that support it. If you seriously want to study this you would have to start looking at books and scientific journals, not just websites.
http://www.talkdesign.org/faqs/icdmyst/ICDmyst.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/behe.html
http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/04/evolution_of_ic_1.html
Rest assured, scientists have looked into these issues. I suggest rather than putting the rest of your questions here, you take the time to research them and discover the answers are already out there.