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A Visual Metaphor Describing Neural Dynamics in Schizophrenia
Background In many scientific disciplines the use of a metaphor as an heuristic aid is not uncommon. A well known example in somatic medicine is the 'defense army metaphor' used to characterize the immune system. In fact, probably a large part of the everyday work of doctors consists of 'translating' scientific and clinical information (i.e. causes of disease, percentage of succes versus risk of side-effects) into information tailored to the needs and capacities of the individual patient. The ability to do so in an effective way is at least partly what makes a clinician a good communicator. Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder which affects approximately 1% of the population. Over the last two decades a large amount of molecular-biological, imaging and genetic data have been accumulated regarding the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. However, it remains difficult to understand how the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions are related to disturbances on the molecular-biological level. In general, psychiatry seems to lack a conceptual framework with sufficient explanatory power to link the mental- and molecular-biological domains. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we present an essay-like study in which we propose to use visualized concepts stemming from the theory on dynamical complex systems as a 'visual metaphor' to bridge the mental- and molecular-biological domains in schizophrenia. We first describe a computer model of neural information processing; we show how the information processing in this model can be visualized, using concepts from the theory on complex systems. We then describe two computer models which have been used to investigate the primary theory on schizophrenia, the neurodevelopmental model, and show how disturbed information processing in these two computer models can be presented in terms of the visual metaphor previously described. Finally, we describe the effects of dopamine neuromodulation, of which disturbances have been frequently described in schizophrenia, in terms of the same visualized metaphor. Conclusions/Significance The conceptual framework and metaphor described offers a heuristic tool to understand the relationship between the mental- and molecular-biological domains in an intuitive way. The concepts we present may serve to facilitate communication between researchers, clinicians and patients.
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Nico J. M. van Beveren 1 , Lieuwe de Haan 2 *
1 Erasmus University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center/de Meren, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Background: In many scientific disciplines the use of a metaphor as an heuristic aid is not uncommon. A well known example in somatic medicine is the 'defense army metaphor' used to characterize the immune system. In fact, probably a large part of the everyday work of doctors consists of 'translating' scientific and clinical information (i.e. causes of disease, percentage of succes versus risk of side-effects) into information tailored to the needs and capacities of the individual patient. The ability to do so in an effective way is at least partly what makes a clinician a good communicator. Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder which affects approximately 1% of the population. Over the last two decades a large amount of molecular-biological, imaging and genetic data have been accumulated regarding the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. However, it remains difficult to understand how the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions are related to disturbances on the molecular-biological level. In general, psychiatry seems to lack a conceptual framework with sufficient explanatory power to link the mental- and molecular-biological domains.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we present an essay-like study in which we propose to use visualized concepts stemming from the theory on dynamical complex systems as a 'visual metaphor' to bridge the mental- and molecular- biological domains in schizophrenia. We first describe a computer model of neural information processing; we show how the information processing in this model can be visualized, using concepts from the theory on complex systems. We then describe two computer models which have been used to investigate the primary theory on schizophrenia, the neurodevelopmental model, and show how disturbed information processing in these two computer models can be presented in terms of the visual metaphor previously described. Finally, we describe the effects of dopamine neuromodulation, of which disturbances have been frequently described in schizophrenia, in terms of the same visualized metaphor.
Conclusions/Significance: The conceptual framework and metaphor described offers a heuristic tool to understand the relationship between the mental- and molecular-biological domains in an intuitive way. The concepts we present may serve to facilitate communication between researchers, clinicians and patients.
Citation: van Beveren NJM, de Haan L (2008) A Visual Metaphor Describing Neural Dynamics in Schizophrenia. PLoS ONE 3(7): e2577. doi:10.1371/
journal.pone.0002577
Editor: Kenji Hashimoto, Chiba University Center for Forensic Mental Health, Japan
Received February 19, 2008; Accepted May 27, 2008; Published July 9, 2008
Copyright: 2008 van beveren, De Haan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: l.dehaan@amc.uva.nl
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, characterized by the emergence at adolescence of psychotic phenomena: halluci- nations, delusions and bizarre behavior. The neurodevelopmental hypothesis, which proposes a leading role for early aberrant brain development on which normal and/or abnormal brain maturation is superimposed has become the dominant paradigm for understanding the development of schizophrenia. The neurode- velopmental theory is usually underscored by a large amount of molecular-biological, imaging and genetic data which have been accumulated over the last two decades. Taken together, these findings point to reduced neuronal connectivity and synaptic stability. Psychotic symptoms are considered to be emergent properties on the psychological and behavioral level of the aberrantly developed neural system which start when during brain development a critical threshold is passed.
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However, it remains difficult to understand how psychotic symptoms are related to disturbances on the molecular-biological level. Kapur [1] described this as: ''doctor-patient interaction proceeds mainly at a 'mind' or 'behavioral' level of description. On the other hand, the preeminent theories regarding psychosis (…) are mainly neurobiological''. We think this is a major problem in contemporary psychiatry because it impedes researchers to convey findings to patients, clinicians, and the general community. The problem is that psychiatry as a science seems to lack a coherent system of terms linking the mental and molecular- biological domains [2]. In somatic medicine the use of some kind of metaphor to bridge the biological and phenomenological domains is not uncommon. For instance, the immune system is characterized by the defense- army metaphor. Though the immune system is notoriously difficult on a molecular level, and the specific molecular phenomena which happen during, say, an HIV infection, may
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be only within the grasp of experts, the defense-army metaphor functions as a bridge between lay and professionals and facilitates understanding in an intuitive way. In this article we attempt to outline a heuristic framework that could provide a basis for uniting clinical phenomena and neurobiological theories. We will introduce what we have coined
a 'visual metaphor' which is supposed to bridge the mental and
neural domains. To this end we will combine two fields of research, namely the study of the behavior of complex systems and computer models of schizophrenia.
During the last two decades a large body of literature has appeared concerning the study of complex systems and its
associated theoretical framework 'complexity theory' [3,4]. Complex systems consist of a set of simple elements which interact with each other and the environment and change in time as result
of these mutual interaction. In psychiatry and the life sciences the
study of complex systems has been identified as a potential source
of new ideas and viewpoints [5–13] as the brain can also be seen as
a complex system [14]. I.e. Peled [15,16] suggested to use concepts
from systems theory to form an innovative diagnostic framework The neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia has been supported by computer simulations of neural information processing. Hoffman and McGlashan reported a body of research on schizophrenia [17–20] resulting in a pathophysiological model coined Developmentally Reduced Synaptic Connectivity [21]. This model specifically posits that schizophrenia arises from critically reduced synaptic connectivity as a result of developmen- tal disturbances of synaptogenesis and supports the neurodevel- opmental theory. Both research efforts depend greatly on computer models and complicated mathematical ideas which are unfamiliar to most psychiatrists. However, the ideas developed in both fields have great heuristic value. In this paper we will try to visualize findings using concepts from the behavior of complex systems. This article will first briefly introduce some basic principles of computer models of mental processes, so-called Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). A conceptual framework which is related to the functioning of ANN is described and we show how this conceptual framework can be visualized. This is the visual metaphor we seek to describe. Subsequently, we describe how implementing developmental disturbances in ANN give rise to pathological phenomena, what their relationship is with 'real-life' pathology and how these phenomena can be understood in terms of the visual metaphor we introduced. Finally, we will show how psychotic symptoms originating from dopamine disturbances can be understood in terms of this visual metaphor.
Introducing the metaphor (1): artificial neural networks and attractors
There is an extensive body of literature on the principles of ANN [22–24]. We describe a certain class of ANN, the attractor neural network [23–26]. Figure 1 shows a network consisting of 100 artificial neurons (AN's) (figure 1, top, left). Each AN is connected with every other AN by means of connections of random strength (For clarity, only connections between neighboring AN's are shown). Each AN receives input from each of the 99 other AN's. Each AN can be active ('1') or inactive ('0' or ' 2 1'). For example, the influence of each set of 99 AN's on the remaining one is given by the sum of the products of the number representing active or inactive and the strength of the corresponding connection. The remaining AN is itself active or inactive depending on whether the sum exceeds a
certain threshold value or not. In this way, all the AN's continuously and mutually influence each other making this ANN a dynamic system. The functioning of this network can be simulated with a computer. It is possible to present this ANN a certain pattern, for instance, a pattern that symbolizes the letter 'A' (figure 1, top, middle). The network is constructed such that connections between AN's which are simultaneously active become stronger; connections which are not simultaneously active become weaker. After pattern 'A' has been presented, this mechanism will have strengthened the connections in the ANN in such a way that pattern 'A' has become imprinted in the connections between the AN's (figure 1, top, right). Pattern 'A' has now become an attractor of the network dynamics: the network has learned 'A' ('learning can be regarded as collecting new attractors' [19]. An attractor implies a preferent state of a dynamic system. What this means is shown in figure 1 (bottom, left). In the left- hand side of the figure, some part of 'A' is presented. The activity of the ANN is continuously updated (figure 1, bottom, middle). The dynamic behavior of the network will finally be attracted towards pattern 'A', the attractor of the network (igure 1, bottom, right). The ANN is now said to have recognized the 'A' pattern. An ANN can have several attractors.
Introducing the metaphor (2): visualizing the behavior of neural systems as a trajectory through state space
The behavior of systems like an ANN can be described with so- called 'state space' representations and from this concept we derive the 'visual metaphor' we like to introduce. Mathematically, all the states in which the ANN can exist can be represented by a multidimensional 'space'. The basic idea can be introduced by considering one neuron with two possible states, 'firing' ('1') and 'non-firing' ('0'). These two states can be graphically depicted as two points. Over time, the dynamical behavior of this one-neuron 'system' can be represented by a trajectory that jumps between the two possible states. Similarly, a two-neuron system can exist in four different states and performs a trajectory that moves between these four points in a two- dimensional space; hence the term 'state space'. From a mathematical point of view, there is no difference with respect to the situation describing systems consisting of N neurons. They describe a trajectory through a N-dimensional space. Unfortunately, this situation cannot be visualized. We propose to simplify this high-dimensional situation to the depiction of a plane with the different states as points in the plane (see figure 2, top; see also Globus and Arpaia [8] and Beer [13]. In fact we performed some kind of intuitive principal component analysis by assuming that relevant variance occurs in limited directions [13]. This plane represents the collection of states in which the system can exist. (Throughout we should keep in mind that in fact we are dealing with a multi-dimensional space which cannot be graphically shown). An attractor (a learned pattern) can be represented as a dent in this plane (figure 2, center). The magnitude of the attractor, commonly described as the basin of attraction , represents the influence of the attractor over its surroundings. In psychological terms, it represents how much of a stored memory has to be 'fed into' the neural system in order for the ANN to perform an associative recollection of the memory. Changing from one state to another can be conceptualized as the movement of a ball over the surface [27]. In time, the system 'moves over the plane': it takes different states and by doing so performs a trajectory through the state space. With this conceptual framework we have a visual tool
Figure 1. Learning an attractor network to recognize patterns. Figure 1, top, (left): a network with 100 units with connections of random strength and with no specific pattern learned (for clarity only neighbouring connections are shown). Figure 1, top (middle and right): learning patt ern 'A'. Top (middle): presenting 'A'; top (right): connections between units related to 'A' are strengthened. Figure 1, bottom, (left): presenting par t of 'A'. Bottom (right): the network has succeeded in retrieving 'A'
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002577.g001
to aid our understanding of the functioning of the ANN. Because of its analogy with the movement of a ball over a landscape we have coined it a 'visual metaphor'. Presenting a pattern to an ANN can be likened to moving a ball over the surface and letting it loose. The system will then seek some state guided by the attractors which dominate the systems' behavior and will settle in one of its attractors (figure 2, center). A situation in which several attractors are present is shown in figure 2 (bottom). Throughout, we must keep in mind that this visual representation is a metaphor for what are essentially abstract mathematical concepts. For a proper understanding, one has to imagine the dynamic aspects of the whole process. So, the state of the ANN is continuously moving through the space of its possible states guided by external influences and attractors with the ANN simultaneously creating new attractors which can be regarded as memory traces [15]. Moreover, in this kind of system, small changes in the state of the system can result in major changes in the final state of the system. These changes are known as phase transitions and appear when the system is near bifurcation points: unstable states in which the system chooses between one or another final state to evolve to. Such sudden changes in the state of the system can be imagined as popcorn, 'popping' from one attractor to another [17].
Using the metaphor (1): the neurodevelopmental theory, ANN and psychopathology
Efforts to simulate schizophrenic pathology using ANN assumed that schizophrenia arises from reductions in connectivity between brain regions as a result of developmental disturbances during synaptogenesis [28,29]. A first effort used the 10610 ANN described earlier. After learning this ANN a number of symbols, a pruning rule was imposed on the ANN, removing weak connections [15]. However, at higher levels of pruning, the ANN demonstrated pathology. One of the findings was that parts of the network would tend to re-create a pattern of activation that did not correspond to any particular stored memory. It was hypothesized that autonomous activation of cortical areas arising independent of activity in other areas would be subjectively experienced as hallucinations or the experience that one's thoughts are being controlled by outside forces. We can visualize this situation using the introduced metaphor (see figure 3, bottom). Excessive pruning has created a so-called 'parasitic' attractor. Input will not bring the ANN into the regions in state space which correspond to a previously learned symbol but to a newly emerged attractor. The re-creation of the pattern can be interpreted as autonomous activation of the ANN. In terms of dynamical
Figure 2. Dynamical behavior of a network as a trajectory in state space guided by attractors (for clarity repulsors are not shown). Figure 2, top: different states of a network represented by points in a plane: the state space. A random situation is shown. Figure 2, center: an attractor representing 'A' symbolised as a dent in state space. Changes in the state of the network can be regarded as a trajectory through state space. Figure 2, bottom: attractors with variably sized basins (representing the influence of the attractor) and variable depths (representing the preference of the system to stay in the attractor).
behavior the pathologically configured ANN is performing an inappropriate trajectory through its state space. (Through a region of its state space not corresponding to any previously learned pattern, hence 'inappropriate'). Later studies involved a more complex ANN (a back- propagation network with a recurrent layer) focusing on developmentally disturbed speech processing as a source of auditory hallucinations [20,30]. Normal human speech is a complex task given the high level of acoustic ambiguity. Normal perception of a word depends not only on acoustic input corresponding to the word itself but also on previously perceived words and intrinsic knowledge of how words are sequenced into larger messages. The process involves verbal working memory that uses expectations based on prior words and phrases. This ANN used featured a verbal working memory with linguistic expectations built up from prior exposure to a training set of grammatical correct sentences. The training set consisted of sentences like ''Jane kiss girl'' or ''Cop chase man''. The ANN was programmed to process degraded input signals into identifiable words. The ANN was posited to 'hallucinate' when it recognized words during periods of input silence. Pruning of connections initially improved detection rates of phonetically degraded words. Higher levels of pruning however
were associated with progressive impairment in word recognition and the emergence of hallucinations. Turning to the visual metaphor to describe what is happening (see figure 4) we should conceptualize the state space and its 'attractor landscape' as to a certain extent dynamical itself. Figure 4 (top) depicts the starting situation in which linguistic concepts are depicted as attractors. The basins of attraction influence the trajectory through the state space as we have described for the simple ANN. Figure 4 (center) shows the system 'hearing' a degraded acoustic stimulus ('J?ne'). Due to the attractor dynamics (these depent on the basin of attraction of 'Jane' as well as the state the system is in) the network might succeed in recognizing 'J?ne' as 'Jane'. Perceiving a word (like ''Jane'') will change basins of attraction (depending on prior expectations, i.e. the training set of sentences), and as a consequence the most likely trajectories that subsequently will be followed. Thus perceiving ''Jane'' will enlarge the basin of attraction of ''kiss'' and other words the ANN has learned to associate with ''Jane'' and at the same time shrink the basin of attraction of concepts associated with, for instance, ''cop''. This situation is shown in figure 4 (bottom). As a result, after perceiving ''Jane'', the most likely trajectories will lead to regions of state space associated with ''Jane'' (like ''kiss''
Figure 3. Pathology shown as disturbances in state space (see text). Figure 3, top: 'normally' sized attractors (cf figure 2, bottom). Figure 3, bottom: aberrant neurodevelopmental processes (i.e. exces- sive pruning) give rise to a spurious attractor: situations and concepts become malclassified (interpreted after 17). This may lead to the subjective experience of delusions or hallucinations.
or whatever other words the ANN due to its prior expectations expects to follow ''Jane''). The pruning process facilitates this process by improving the capacity to recognize degraded input, probably by enlarging basins of attraction and facilitating common trajectories (like ''Jane'' R ''kiss'' R ''girl''). However, the drawback is that after a certain point recognizing becomes 'too good', and the system starts off to follow trajectories without any input: the system starts 'hallucinating'.
Using the metaphor (2): dopamine and schizophrenia
There is considerable evidence suggesting a role for dopamine involvement in schizophrenia, particularly motivated by the efficacy of antipsychotic medication, which derive their therapeu- tic effects from dopamine D2 antagonism [31]. Usually, research focusing on the role of dopamine in schizophrenia adresses two aspects of dopamine neuromodulation, namely (1) the role of exess dopaminergic stimulation in delusions, and (2) the role of low levels of prefrontal dopamine in working memory. The metaphor we present should be able to capture aspects of these roles of dopamine in schizophrenia.
General aspects of the role of dopamine in neural system dynamics
An increasing body of research suggests that dopamine is a modulator of the signal-to-noise ratio of the neural system. One of the first to suggest this role were Servan-Schreiber et al [32]. In the metaphor presented, a crucial role is played by the attractor concept. The way in which information is processed is influenced by the shape and depth of the attractors and by the ease in which the system can settle into an attractor and perform transitions from one attractor into another. Changing the signal-to-noise ratio, in terms of 'information processing with attractors', comes down to changing the depth of the attractors and changing the magnitude of the basins of attraction. Low levels of dopamine are associated with a low signal-to-noise ratio and in attractors terms this is equivalent to shallow attractors
with large basins of attractions. In this situation frequent transitions from one attractor to another can take place (see figure 5, bottom). Servan-Schreiber at al [32] suggested that this is the psychological equivalent of relatively unfocused, associative thinking. High levels of dopamine are associated with a large signal-to- noise ratio and this comes down to the existence of a limited number of deep atractors with relatively large basins of attraction which dominate the information processing of the neural system (figure 5, top). Such a situation will be present in a situation of focused attention.
Excess dopaminergic stimulation in delusions
Recently, Kapur (1) presented an heuristic framework on the role of dopamine in delusions. In Kapur's model a central role of dopamine is to mediate the salience of environmental events. A (striatal) hyperdopaminergic state would lead, at a psychological level, to the aberrant assignment of salience to one's experience. Aberrant, because salience is assigned to experiences which (in fact) have none or only minor salience. Subsequently, delusions are the cognitive effort to make sense of aberrantly salient experiences. Kapur (1) provides a psychological description of the role of dopamine. Within the framework we presented (based on 'information-processing with attractors') an abormal hyperdopa- minergic state is equivalent to the emergence of an attractor with a large basin of attraction which dominates the striatal information processing of the neural system. This dominance translates itself in 'aberrant salience'. This is the situation depicted in figure 5 (top).
Low prefrontal dopamine in working memory
Whereas hyperdopaminergic states in the striatum have been associated with delusions, reduced dopaminergic activity in the prefronal cortex has been associated with disorders of working memory [33,34]. Usually it is assumed that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for representing and maintaining task-relevant infor- mation, an idea related to the ideas of Goldman-Rakic concerning the role of the prefrontal cortex in working memory. Dopamine is involved in maintaining task-relevant information in the prefrontal cortex [35]. Schizophrenia patients show several deficits in psychological tasks, specifically in tasks that place a demand on the active maintenance of internal representations of the context of the task. Cohen & Servan-Schreiber [35] concluded that performance deficits in schizophrenia are due to a degradation in the internal representation required as context for processing stimuli. In a state of reduced prefrontal dopaminergic activity noise interferes with the ability of the system to maintain a representation of task- relevant information. In the framework we presented this comes down to the situation depicted in figure 5 (bottom) where the system is liable to transitions to other attractors due to small internal or external perturbations of the system. The resulting inability of the system to maintain a stable attractor state over time shows itself at a psychological level as the observed disorders of working memory. More generally, this will lead to an uncontrolled spread of activation and an increase of spontaneous neuronal activity, hence, to a decreased signal-to-noise ratio [34]. Similar results have been described in a neural network simulation performed by Peled & Geva [36]. More recent insights have focused on the differential effects of D1- and D2- dopamine receptor stimulation in the prefrontal cortex [34,37,38]. Durstewitz [38] argues, partly based on neural network simulations [39,40], that D1-stimulation could increase the energy barrier between different network states, making it harder to switch from one state to the other. Due to this, active
Figure 4. Dynamical aspects of the 'attractor landscape' (see also text). Figure 4, top: meaningful acoustical signals have created an 'attractor landscape'. Figure 4, center: recognizing a (degraded) signal, ic 'Jane'. Figure 4, bottom: after recognizing 'Jane' the basins of attra ction of concepts associated with 'Jane' (acoustical signals, likely to follow 'Jane') temporarily increase, facilitating the capacity to recognize subse quent input (i.e. the most likely words to follow Jane).
memory states become more robust to distractors and interference. In dynamical terms, D1-induced changes come down to a deepening and widening of the basins of attraction of prefrontal cortex attractor states (figure 5, top). The combined effects of D1- and D2-receptor stimulation cause dopamine to drive neural networks through a sequence of phases with opposing characteristics. In the case of prefrontal cortex this may consist of an initial phase where basins of attraction are flattened out (a D2-dominated situation making networks highly susceptible to newly incoming information –see figure 5, bottom), and a late phase (D1-dominated) where network activity is focused on a few relevant states (figure 5, top). Thus, this mechanism is used to 'protect' task relevant information against the interfering, and cumulative effects of noise over time [36].
The metaphor as part of a broader information processing concept
The terms we used are derived from the theory on complex dynamical systems. In this concept the brain is seen as a system that is in constant interaction with its environment, possessing a great number of preferential states in which the system sequentially relaxes [15,41]. These preferential states are attractors
of the systems' dynamics. They are the result of the physical structure of the system and past experiences which have influenced the system. The outside world influences the present situation of the system persistently, causing the system to temporarily relax in a state most fit to this ongoing process of mutual influence. Homeostatic mechanisms produce stability as well as phase transitions, making the healthy system adaptive to its environment. Psychopathology arises when the system becomes either too stable or too unstable, whether by (acute or chronic) external influences or by limitations in the system itself. In most pathological circumstances, there will be a constant interaction between the system and the environment, resulting in a more or less pathological equilibrium. It has been suggested to name these aspects of neural functioning which focuses on the system properties of neural ensembles neurodynamics [12,15,42,43]. Our approach has been to simplify and visualize these processes, in order to produce an intuitive understanding.
Ideally, medical thinking depends on the understanding of both physical reality and the availability of a metaconcept describing
Figure 5. Modulatory effects of dopamine shown as changes in state space (interpreted after 30)(see also text). Figure 5, top:
increasing levels of dopamine augment the signal-to-noise ratio: the basin of the attractor associated with the most salient signal increases while the basins of attraction of the other attractors decrease. Note also the increase respectively decrease of the depth of the attractors reflecting a incre ased respectively decreased tendency of the system to stay in the attractor. Figure 5, bottom: decreasing levels of dopamine reduce the signal-to-noise ratio: the basins of attraction and the depth of the attractors become more similar resulting in an enhanced tendency of the system to make transitions from one attractor to another.
reality in a more abstract way. For instance, in cancer research, the metaconcept is 'regulation of cell proliferation', with 'misregulation' as its associated pathological state [44]. The physical reality is the way in which the bio-physical apparatus of genes and proteins perform regulation of cell proliferation.
The line of reasoning introduced in this paper tries to approach this situation. The metaconcept defined is based on information processing theory (namely, information processing with attractors [45,46]), the neurobiological process described (pruning of the dendritic tree) is functionally related with the metaconcept,
(pruning optimizes information processing), pathology is under- stood as arising from disturbances of this neurobiological process (excessive pruning) and the associated pathological phenomena are expressed in terms of the metaconceptual framework (emergence of pathological attractors). Moreover, neuromodulatory influences (dopamine) can be described in terms of the metaconcepts as well. In psychiatry, there is a large conceptual gap between empirical research and theory which -especially in brain research- must be bridged by an interdisciplinary formal language [47]. In this respect, 'systems science' or 'computational neuroscience' offers a conceptual and methodological basis for integrating the various data within a sophisticated system framework. In this context, we think that some 'metaphorization' of psychological categories into cybernetic language might be useful to bridge this gap. Throughout history, the working of the brain has been compared to that of a clock-work, a steam engine and, most recently, to a digital computer or a hologram [48,49]. The metaphor presented in this article is derived from dynamical systems theory and is a visual representation of the mathematical concepts underlining this theory. We expect that the conceptual framework and metaphor described in this article offers a tool to understand psychiatric phenomena from a systems perspective. At the same time, we are dealing with a line of thought which is related with the actual behavior of neural systems, so the terminology used, though of an abstract nature, has a close relationship with the processes in the brain. Moreover, it facilitates to appreciate relationships between related phenomena in different fields of science, describing properties and phenomena of neural systems as more specific instances of general principles underlying behavior of all kinds of complex dynamical systems. It therefore satisfies the scientific endeavour to recognize specific behavior (like the behavior of neural sytems) as instances of more general behavior (like the behavior of complex systems) and to construct a conceptual framework describing this general behavior.
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Finally, it should be borne in mind that theories and models need not be 'explanations' of observed phenomena but can also be useful as exploratory 'heuristics' [47]. The presented model might serve this purpose.
This is an essay-like study aimed to contruct visualized concepts stemming from the theory on dynamical complex systems to be used as a 'visual metaphor' to bridge the mental- and molecular- biological domains in schizophrenia. The background for this study has been formed by a PubMed search with the terms ('neural network' OR 'connectionism' OR 'parallel distributed processing' OR 'nonlinear systems' OR 'complex systems') AND ('schizophren*' OR 'psychosis' OR 'psychotic' OR 'psychiatr*'). The general concept of a (visual) metaphor is inspired by the work of Globus & Arpaia [6], Draaisma [48,49], and Ouzounis & Maziere [50]. To introduce the sought-after metaphor we first describe a computer model of neural information processing. We then show how the information processing in this model can be visualized, using concepts from the theory on complex systems. Finally, we use the visual metaphor to describe disturbed information processing and dopamine neuromodulation in schizophrenia.
The authors like to thank Clementien Heim for producing the graphics. Ernst Colon and Michiel Hengeveld made useful remarks on previous versions of the manuscript.
Wrote the paper: Nv Ld.
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29. Friston KJ, Frith CD (1995) Schizophrenia: a disconnection syndrome? Clin Neurosci 3: 89–97.
30. Hoffman RE, Rapaport J, Ameli R, McGlashan TH, Harcherik D, et al. (1995) A neural network simulation of hallucinated ''voices'' and associated speech perception impairments in schizophrenic patients. J Cogn Neurosci 7: 479–496.
31. Kapur S, Seeman P (2001) Does fast dissociation from the dopamine d(2) receptor explain the action of atypical antipsychotics? A new hypothesis. Am J Psychiatry 158: 360–369.
32. Servan-Schreiber D, Printz H, Cohen DS (1990) A network model of catecholamine effects: gain, signal-to-noise ratio, and behavior. Science 249:
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text:
Соревнования по прыжкам с трамплина на зимних Олимпийских играх 1998 прошли с 8 по 15 февраля. Были разыграны три комплекта наград.

Медалисты

Результаты

Большой трамплин, К-120, командное первенство
Командные соревнования по прыжкам с большого трамплина прошли 18 февраля. В соревнованиях приняли участие 13 команд. Представители всех команд совершили по две попытки. Призёры Олимпийских игр определились по сумме результатов за две попытки.

Нормальный трамплин, К-90, личное первенство
В соревнованиях приняли участие 62 спортсмена. В финале 32 прыгуна выполнили одну попытку, а 30 лучших прыгунов по итогам первой попытки совершили вторую попытку. Призёры Олимпийских игр определились по сумме результатов за две попытки.

Большой трамплин, К-120, личное первенство
В соревнованиях приняли участие 62 спортсмена. В финале 32 прыгуна выполнили одну попытку, а 30 лучших прыгунов по итогам первой попытки совершили вторую попытку. Призёры Олимпийских игр определились по сумме результатов за две попытки.

15 февраля 1998

Судьи

Ссылки
 Ski Jumping at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games

Соревнования на зимних Олимпийских играх 1998
Прыжки с трамплина на Олимпийских играх
Прыжки с трамплина в Японии

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Artist says city erased mural it paid him to paint
By David RiderCity Hall Bureau Chief
Wed., June 1, 2011timer3 min. read
Artist Joel Richardson says the city has painted over a popular Dupont St. mural that it paid him $2,000 to create, an apparent misfire in Mayor Rob Ford's war on graffiti.
A city spokeswoman says the railway underpass wall was returned to drab grey because Richardson's artwork was unauthorized, uncommissioned, political and may have "referred to (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper."
Richardson says in 2008 then-Davenport councillor Adam Giambrone's office asked him to paint a mural on the north wall of the underpass west of Lansdowne Ave., on the funky Junction Triangle neighbourhood's eastern edge.
The colourful scene of faceless men in suits, dollar signs and hearts, funded mostly through donations from local businesses, proved popular enough, he says, that Giambrone's staff asked him to paint another mural on the south wall, and helped him get a $2,000 commission from the city's Clean and Beautiful secretariat.
The painter and filmmaker kicked off work on the new mural last Sept. 25 with a community party. He had spent at least 30 hours on it, with about another 10 to go, when he learned Monday the city had used grey and white paint to completely blot out the mathematical formula incorporating Morse code symbols and grim-faced businessmen with yellow halos.
Reaction to the "commentary on the mathematics of modern finance," had been mostly positive, he says, noting it was featured on a Jane's Walk neighbourhood tour in early May.
The mural's erasure "was shocking, obviously," he said Tuesday. "I'm hoping that it was a mistake. I can't imagine the city would paint over something they paid for. I'm still processing that it's gone."
Elyse Parker, a director in the city's transportation services department, said the artwork was erased after a resident complained it was political. City records suggested the older north wall mural was commissioned, but not the one on the south wall, she said.
"This was not approved by the city and we would not endorse any kind of mural with political messaging," she said. "There was some discussion that the mural referred to Stephen Harper. That's the suggestion, that's what it looked like to us."
Richardson says the mural "had nothing to do with Stephen Harper" — while it is "subversive and anti-freewheeling capitalism" — and his friend Benjamin Blais was the model for the businessman.
Vic Gedris, who runs the Junction Triangle website and led the Jane's Walk that saw participants question Robertson about his mural, said the city recently painted over graffiti by "Posterchild" in a different, nearby underpass depicting Harper in riot gear.
Richardson provided the Toronto Star with emails from two of Giambrone's staff members in 2009 urging him to apply for the Clean and Beautiful funding for the south wall mural.
Parker, heading to a Tuesday night town hall at the Drake Hotel hosted by Councillor Cesar Palacio in response to community concerns over Ford's campaign to erase graffiti from city property, and force business owners to remove it from theirs, said: "We'll get to the bottom of this tomorrow."
Councillor Ana Bailão, who succeeded Giambrone in last October's election, was also trying to discover why Richardson's mural was erased, noting "I never found it offensive — I walk by it all the time."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I was particularly please to see that not only does it have the complete indicator and fog light assembly but it also has a rather wonderful Nissan 'M' style spoiler. People would give their right arm for these! However I couldn't sell it, as it will possibly make a rather fabulous alternative to the aggressive front splitter I currently have bolted on and means I can drive with even more abandon!


This talk provides a cohesive overview of the advanced rendering techniques developed for Deus EX: Mankind Divided. It covers a collection of diverse features, the challenges they presented, where current approaches succeed and fail, and solutions and implementation details.
This cohesive overview of the advanced rendering techniques developed for Rise of the Tomb Raider presents a collection of diverse features, the challenges they presented, where current approaches succeed and fail, and solutions and implementation details.


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text:
Home » TV & Movies » Nicola McLean slams Ant and Dec for 'unfair' treatment of Naughty Boy in trial
Nicola McLean slams Ant and Dec for 'unfair' treatment of Naughty Boy in trial
Daily Star TV gives you all the latest interviews and spoilers and Ed Gleave will send you telly's hot takes straight to your inbox every Sunday
Nicola McLean has given her no-filter opinions in her latest column entry where she said I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Naughty Boy has been "unfairly" treated.
The former campmate has revealed that she feels for Naughty Boy after being treated like the "annoying brother" of the group and even hindered by TV hosts Ant and Dec.
Talking about Naughty Boy's Wednesday night's trial, she said: "They were saying he only needs to be in there for 30 seconds or 60 seconds but they didn't take the snakes or the other things out. They were with him for the whole time!
"And I thought that Adam Woodyatt and Simon Gregson were quite dismissive of him. I don't know whether that's just me and whether I'm being extra defensive, but I felt like they were."
She continued: "And Ant and Dec as well, like when Arlene kept dropping the stars and they really gave her so much help, but when I was in there, my husband actually tweeted because they help some people and not help others.
"And I felt like they gave Arlene such an unfair amount of help but they were just like 'close your mouth, Naughty Boy'. And saying 'which is a good thing for us'. Don't get me wrong, I know that's funny, but it's kinda not at the same time."
Nicola went on to defend the music producer campmate and say: "I really like Naughty Boy but I'm feeling like maybe he's the one who is 'annoying' in the camp if that makes sense? Well, he's the one that they all have had a dig at."
She also stated that Naughty Boy is the only thing carrying the series and described it as "s**t" overall.
Nicola added: "When he had the 'to-do' with Kadeena, she was wrong and he was right. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that big of a deal but I feel like he stepped up to be a chef and he's good at it. So, just leave him alone!
"You get certain members of camp like Naughty Boy, where people think they can say anything to him. Like, imagine her saying that to David if he was cooking… She wouldn't!"
She also said that the other campmates have been treating him like a bit like a nuisance child.
Nicola said: "They're doing a lot of eye-rolling as if he's some annoying little brother. But is he being that annoying? Because I haven't seen anything annoying.
"But we do have to remember that we don't see everything that goes on…"
On Thursday night, fans saw Naughty Boy and The Saturday's star Frankie Bridge perform some pop ballads while covered in gruesome items. from above.
However, fans thought that the musical stars, an ex-girl group star and music producer, didn't perform as well as expected.
Talking about the fan reaction, Nicola said: "I totally agree with that but it's hard when you're having to down things and the trauma of trying to be able to perform properly.
"But I definitely wouldn't be paying for a concert to watch them, I don't know about you…
"I think they did well at the trial but Frankie looked absolutely frozen. I remember doing a trial when I was in a tank of gunk and it was freezing, so I can really empathise with her there."
Nicola will be back next week with a another fiery column and another Facebook Live chat about all the I'm A Celeb gossip on Monday at 1pm.
I'm A Celeb continues tonight at 9pm on ITV.
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here
Frankie Bridge
It Took Us a Full 5 Minutes to Recognize Jennifer Lopez With Pastel-Pink Hair
14 arrested in connection to smash-and-grab thefts in Southern California, authorities say


text:
Hon. Sharon Tracey Barrett (Ret.)
Barrett Resolutions
Website: www.barrettresolutions.com
Recognized to North Carolina Chapter for Mediation & Arbitration Other ADR Services: Fact Finding, Mini-Trial Judge, Special Master
Book an Appointment with Sharon Barrett's office
This member's calendar is currently offline.
If you'd like a list of available dates for Sharon Barrett, please submit a request below.
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Before retiring from the bench, Sharon served as a Special Superior Court Judge, holding court in thirty of North Carolina's one hundred counties. In this position as trial judge, she presided over jury trials and also heard and decided many different types of non-jury matters.
She also served as a District Court Judge in the 28th Judicial District for five years. Initially appointed to the bench in 2005, she was then twice elected by the voters of Buncombe County. She presided both in criminal and civil courts, hearing a wide range of cases.
Sharon practiced law in Asheville for nineteen years with the firm of Patla, Straus, Robinson & Moore, P.A., representing individual, corporate and governmental clients in state and federal courts in a wide range of areas, including: business, personal injury, contract and commercial disputes, employment matters, medical negligence, construction, discrimination and real estate.
Business Dissolution
Title Disputes
Sharon Tracey Barrett graduated cum laude from the Honors Program at Boston College in 1983, then earned her law degree from Georgetown Law in 1986. Since that time, she has attended and taught various Continuing Legal Education seminars, and has received training at the North Carolina Judicial College.
She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of The Mediation Center, a western North Carolina non-profit providing mediation and supervised visitation services. She previously served on the Board from 2006-2012, then joined the Board once again in 2014.
She served as President of the Buncombe County Bar from 2002-2003 (28th Judicial District), and has also served as Secretary-Treasurer and as a member of the Grievance Committee, Pro Bono Committee, and Executive Committee.
She was a member of the North Carolina Domestic Violence Commission for three years, serving as Chair of the Legislative Subcommittee in 2012-2013.
Please call office for details.


It is a widely known principle of systems engineering that the combination of different elements in a system produces results not possible for the elements alone or even in the aggregate. The INCOSE definition follows the general pattern of others in stating "A system is a construct or collection of different elements that together produce results not obtainable by the elements alone." In other words, simple addition will not account for the product of a system. The results hang on the way the elements relate and interact with each other.
It follows from this concept that the more ways in which the elements can relate and interact the wider the possibilities for system results. At a simple level, think of the erector set from childhood. The more different sizes, shapes, and kinds of pieces you had, the more objects you could construct. Pieces could be combined in a wide variety of ways to make an almost limitless array of creations.
Real erector set enthusiasts sought more pieces and parts and even incorporated objects from their environment that were not a part of the "official" erector set catalog. The more parts the greater the capacity for creativity and results. Unique objects were particularly valuable because they held possibilities that resided nowhere else in the set. We played with wooden spools discarded from the textile factory where our father worked. No one else in our neighborhood had that winding capacity!
The essential characteristic of systems (different elements that together produce results not obtainable by the elements alone) makes the construction of human social systems analogous to working with our old erector sets. The more pieces we have with which to build our human systems the greater the range of results we can achieve. More pieces make our social systems more powerful by expanding our design possibilities.
As we put together organizations to tackle mission challenges, we gain design possibilities in direct proportion to the number and variety of pieces from which we can build. This makes sense in the human realm because we know our thinking is a product of our background and experience leveraged by our natural abilities. All other things being equal (and they are never EXACTLY equal), people from similar backgrounds and experiences will have similar thought patterns and points of view. Conversely, people from different backgrounds and experiences will bring to the table different thought patterns and points of view.
These differing points of view and patterns of thinking enrich the work of the system. In systems speak, they expand the results. This means that teams created from a diverse pool of people will be stronger and have wider capabilities than more uniform groups.
Too often diversity is advocated from the perspective of what the potential group members "deserve." While this is certainly a legitimate and important perspective, we should not lose sight of the fact that, as systems engineers, we want the gifts diversity brings to our organizational design. Like a bigger erector set with many different pieces, a deep and diverse pool of potential team members offers us stronger solution set.
In practical terms, that means that systems engineers do not simply tolerate diversity or even just welcome it. We covet diversity in the same way we once coveted bigger erector sets with new kinds of pieces. We selfishly seek its possibilities and actively look for ways to leverage the gifts of a diverse pool of team members. Systems engineers who pause to think of diversity in this way can broaden their contribution to their organizations by drawing on those gifts. For them, the issue of diversity transcends politics or justice and becomes one of design excellence.
I enjoyed reading this. Thank you for your thoughts. We need to apply SE to US gov't!


Bill and I went to Boston last Sunday, hours before snow storm Marcus' arrival. I had booked a walking chocolate tour via groupon as an early Valentine's Day gift for us… and I missed the Saturday evening email to say it had been canceled due to the storm. I only saw the Saturday night email confirming it was still on. So, if you happened to be watching The Weather Channel Sunday and saw the anchor standing on the snow bank in Copley Square, we were just to his right standing by the John Copley statue for a good 45 minutes, waiting for the tour and waving at him. Wondering if he drew the long or short straw.
Around 12:25, we changed our venue to Trinity Church, which is also on the square. Trinity is one of those in-your-backyard gems that we had never made the time to visit. We met parishioners coming out as we were going in. A very pleasant usher greeted us and pointed us up a side aisle to where the 12:30 p.m. free tour would start shortly. Every Sunday after service, this tour is free!
With the service ending, we sat in a pew and listened to the recessional organ music. Together with another couple, our tour started promptly as the last organ note dropped from the air.
Tours are led by volunteers; our guide was a young female architect who was not a parishioner. I admire people who are fluent in their passion. Seeing the details of Trinity through her eyes was astounding – from her explanation of the transformation of Back Bay to land and the life notes of the first rector, the architect, and the artist... to the details of stained glass windows and floral designs throughout. Our guide brought the church to life architecturally within the realm of the Episcopalian Church and this particular congregation in the late 1800's.
We were both awed by the building and the guide – and it was free to boot!
Solas Irish Pub – was OK with us just having coffee and not food!
Chocolate by the bald man… Max Brenner – a small sampling of pecans rolled in hazelnut paste, dipped in chocolate, and sprinkled with real cocoa powder made up for the canceled chocolate tour.


Glasgow City Region is one of the largest in the UK, with a population of 1.8m living within 45 minutes of the city centre. Our economy generates over £40bn per annum, 42% of our residents are educated to degree level and unemployment is at its lowest since records began. Having learned the lessons from previous recessions, we have developed a broad based, resilient economy which has continued to grow through challenging macroeconomic times. Our economic performance has been remarkable.
Yet that growth hasn't been shared by all of our citizens. The City Deal has given us the opportunity to further growth and share this prosperity with everyone in the wider region. If we can maximise this opportunity, we can transform the powerhouse of the Scottish economy.


text:
Kara Frame
Kara Frame is a video producer for NPR and pursues personal projects in her free time. She most often produces for NPR's explainer series, "Let's Talk: Big Stories, Told Simply." She's crafted stories about housing segregation in Baltimore, MD; motherhood in a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece; and food deserts in Washington, DC. Frame enjoys a break from the news when filming the Tiny Desk Concerts.
Frame's personal projects have focused primarily on veterans and PTSD. In 2016, her short documentary I Will Go Back Tonight was awarded first place for long-form multimedia at the NPPA Northern Short Course.
Before starting at NPR in 2016, Frame received a B.A. in African-American Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and a M.A in New Media Photojournalism from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University in Washington, DC. When she's not working on videos, you can find her in her garden or hosting a dinner for friends.
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