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The concept of presentification finds an important place in clinical models of trauma. In psychotherapy, do “present moment”, focus on the “here and now” and mindfulness refer to the same semantic field? Or is it sufficient to distinguish its contents through the favorable/maladaptive polarity? Are the concepts of “defensive automatism” and of “defensive style” overlapping? Is maladaptive presentation a metahistorical fact? Does adolescence show always behaviors of maladaptive presentification? The brief critical argument presented in this intervention on Luca Degasperi’s (2023) article starts from the need to clarify the epistemological field of the construct of presentification, suggesting an alternative terminological hypothesis to the maladaptive meaning and a socio-cultural recontextualization of the clinical pictures described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insanity, insanity defense, and the elements of crimes are closely related to each other. An insane person cannot be punished for the crimes committed by him. However, insanity is a concept that has different connotations across academic disciplines. The law is interested in the legal insanity of an accused. Actus reus and mens rea, in most cases, are the essential components of a crime. The defense of insanity, which is an excuse defense against criminal liability is more relevant to the mens rea. Whereas the defense of automatism is more concerned with the actus reus. This paper analyzes the concepts of insanity and insanity defense in the context of elements of crime employing doctrinal legal analysis. The findings of this paper suggest that there is a need to interpret the concepts of insanity, insanity defense, and the elements of crimes, and the relationship among them when the accused is suffering from mental disorders by adopting multidisciplinary approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the fragmentation and the disintegration of the characters in the light of Zeno's paradox of plurality. The characters indulge in automatism to overcome the sense of alienation and familial lack of compassion since their childhood. While automatism protects them against external contingency, it reduces existence to sequential divestment, with each beginning denoting merely the certainty of perpetually descending to the end. They fail to become a part of the whole where they fear that they may lose their subjective identities and submerge into the whole. It shows how the situation and the disintegration of the characters in Endgame symbolize the impossibility of becoming the part of the whole. This paper explores how Beckett goes even further than Zeno by showing the divisibility even of the part and tells how an individual is alienated from society, people around him and ultimately from himself and he lives only in temporal units without the possibility of finding intrinsic meanings of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some determinist approaches to free will opine that the human brain is subordinate to physical laws not fully under our control. This results in a weakening of the concept of the personal autonomy and moral responsibility of humans. Were we to acknowledge this assumption, we might consider automatic machines unable to influence the thoughts and intentions from which our actions take root. The key issue lies in the fact that an individual does not consciously engage in particular actions (automatisms), which challenges the concept of free will in an individual's complex behaviour. Despite this issue, not all automatisms that lack conscious will can be viewed as lacking free will. The paper examines whether classical philosophical concepts may weaken the strict determinist approach, which seeks to deny that individuals have free will due to the existence of automatic actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My artistic practice and research explore automatic processes used throughout time that develop conceptual and physical aptitude in the performer; to transcend the status quo and experience alternative versions of embodied reality. In homage to Elvis Presley and the spirit of Rock and Roll, I define automatism as a process formulated as Automatic Corporeal Gesture in a Flash (ACG) where I work to make art without fear from an inspirational sensation in my body. ACG is inspired, authentic action that I do in a creative act through some kind of plan or set of parameters to get a material result; it is automatic action through diffraction in an apparatus, to produce material with qualitative data that can be considered for its meaning after the performance. Like having a conversation with someone, this approach helps me to understand things as they are, learning about their qualities. In ACG I combine my vibration with the vibration of what inspires me. It is a relational act of co-agential meaning making. It is a performance process that uses perception and action intrepidly while in an apparatus to maintain corporeal balance, integrity and momentum during an event. Practising ACG changes qualities in material, which changes the way meaning is made from it. These changes are always particular to each event. Our senses are physical and extra-sensory. My imagination contains qualitative, empirical data. I am using my corporeal senses to perceive my imagination's inspiration, as I would also use my other senses and their correlating extra-sensory capabilities to perceive the material world around me. The meditative groove of my ACG is a trance dance. Trance is maintaining the entrainment of one's body to a frequency which focuses perceptive consciousness. How a piece is created carries discursive information. Qualities of the movement of the body and the marks it makes speaks about our corporeal condition as well as speaking of its perception of qualities through/of itself and its local and extra-local environments. I use ACG to learn about the qualities that experience has had in my body, and this knowledge increases my ability to be more responsible and accountable as a receiver and transmitter of discourse, which is the function of my relationality. ACG helps me to access my full body, and it allows me to coordinate and integrate all my other senses and their correlating extra aspects into my creative action. ACG is what keeps sparking the dynamic process in which I realize my creative potential, and where I can expand my abilities to perceive more of the qualities of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Desde el Jardín de Freud is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Escuela de Estudios en Psicoanalisis y Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives Since the easiest way to identify pills and obtain information about them is to distinguish them visually, many studies on image processing technology exist. However, no automatic system for generating pill image data has yet been developed. Therefore, we propose a system for automatically generating image data by taking pictures of pills from various angles. This system is referred to as the pill filming system in this paper. Methods We designed the pill filming system to have three components: structure, controller, and a graphical user interface (GUI). This system was manufactured with black polylactic acid using a 3D printer for lightweight and easy manufacturing. The mainboard controls data storage, and the entire process is managed through the GUI. After one reciprocating movement of the seesaw, the web camera at the top shoots the target pill on the stage. This image is then saved in a specific directory on the mainboard. Results The pill filming system completes its workflow after generating 300 pill images. The total time to collect data per pill takes 21 minutes and 25 seconds. The generated image size is 1280 × 960 pixels, the horizontal and vertical resolutions are both 96 DPI (dot per inch), and the file extension is .jpg. Conclusions This paper proposes a system that can automatically generate pill image data from various angles. The pill observation data from various angles include many cases. In addition, the data collected in the same controlled environment have a uniform background, making it easy to process the images. Large quantities of high-quality data from the pill filming system can contribute to various studies using pill images.

Traditionally, jurists have distinguished between voluntary/involuntary behaviour via the theory of volition. Though perceived as the conventional approach, this paper argues that the volitional understanding of voluntariness is an inadequate instrument for assessing complex behaviours which seemingly portray a striking level of intelligence and purposiveness on the part of the accused. In particular, the phenomenon known as hypnotically-induced behaviour, which forms the focus of this paper, is one such troublesome case. To this end, the version of the volitional theory most staunchly advocated by Professor Michael Moore is singled out for scrutiny, due to his strong sentiments supporting the application of his philosophy to these aforementioned behaviours. In contrast to Moore, this paper suggests that the position most recently proposed by the Law Commission of England and Wales within their discussion paper on the defences of insanity and automatism is to be preferred. Specifically, the Commission recommend substituting the theory of volition for that of 'control' as a means for assessing the voluntariness of any given behaviour. This paper submits that a theory of control has two major advantages over the traditional theory of volitionalism. First, the possession/absence of control more accurately reflects the contemporary system of criminal law in England and Wales. Second, a theory of control is more conceptually defensible as an explanation for why behaviours performed under hypnosis are typically perceived as involuntary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Freedom' is a phenomenon in the natural world. This phenomenon-and indirectly the question of free will-is explored using a variety of systems-theoretic ideas. It is argued that freedom can emerge only in systems that are partially determined and partially random, and that freedom is a matter of degree. The paper considers types of freedom and their conditions of possibility in simple living systems and in complex living systems that have modeling (cognitive) subsystems. In simple living systems, types of freedom include independence from fixed materiality, internal rather than external determination, activeness that is unblocked and holistic, and the capacity to choose or alter environmental constraint. In complex living systems, there is freedom in satisfaction of lower level needs that allows higher potentials to be realized. Several types of freedom also manifest in the modeling subsystems of these complex systems: in the transcending of automatism in subjective experience, in reason as instrument for passion yet also in reason ruling over passion, in independence from informational colonization by the environment, and in mobility of attention. Considering the wide range of freedoms in simple and complex living systems allows a panoramic view of this diverse and important natural phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of studies tried to examine the fundamental question of whether specific processing is "automatic," that is, occurs without attention, by manipulating attention toward stimuli via the set-size manipulation of perceptual load. The present paper invites re-extermination of this common methodology of altering the perceptual load of a relevant task to manipulate attention toward peripheral stimuli. Four main arguments that propose alternative interpretations to the notion of automaticity in this line of studies are discussed, suggesting that automaticity cannot be verified utilizing manipulation of load, and outlining a plan for moving forward.

Objectives Demand for hand sanitizers has surged since the coronavirus broke out and spread around the world. Hand sanitizers are usually applied by squirting the sanitizer liquid when one presses a pump with one’s hand. This causes many people to come into contact with the pump handle, which increases the risk of viral transmission. Some hand sanitizers on the market are automatically pumped. However, because sanitizer containers and pump devices are designed to be compatible only between products produced by the same manufacturer, consumers must also repurchase the container for the liquid if they replace the hand sanitizer. Therefore, this paper suggests the design of an automatic hand sanitizer system compatible with various sanitizer containers. Methods An automatic hand sanitizer system was designed, which will be presented in two stages describing the instrument structure and control parts. This work focused on using the elasticity of pumps and improving people’s access to devices. Results We have designed an automatic hand sanitizer system that is compatible with various containers. When one moves one’s hand close to the device sensor, the hand sanitizer container is pumped once. Conclusions The automatic hand sanitizer device proposed in this paper is ultimately expected to contribute to contactless hand disinfection in public places and virus infection prevention. Additionally, it is economical and eco-friendly by decreasing waste emissions.

The tendency to mimic the behaviour of others is affected by a variety of social factors, and it has been argued that such "mirroring" is often unconsciously deployed as a means of increasing affiliation during interpersonal interactions. However, the relationship between automatic motor imitation and status/power is currently unclear. This paper reports five experiments that investigated whether social status (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or power (Experiments 4 and 5) had a moderating effect on automatic imitation (AI) in finger-movement tasks, using a series of different manipulations. Experiments 1 and 2 manipulated the social status of the observed person using an associative learning task. Experiment 3 manipulated social status via perceived competence at a simple computer game. Experiment 4 manipulated participants' power (relative to the actors) in a card-choosing task. Finally, Experiment 5 primed participants using a writing task, to induce the sense of being powerful or powerless. No significant interactions were found between congruency and social status/power in any of the studies. Additionally, Bayesian hypothesis testing indicated that the null hypothesis should be favoured over the experimental hypothesis in all five studies. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for AI tasks, social effects on mimicry, and the hypothesis of mimicry as a strategic mechanism to promote affiliation.

This paper examines some of the issues raised by the current criminal law defence of automatism and the related defence of insane automatism, and considers what neuroscience may contribute to the reform discussion. It also considers some of the claims made in relation to the impact of neuroimaging in the courtroom. It examines an American medical case report in which an individual's criminal behaviour is linked to a brain tumour, and considers how the reformed law as presented in the Law Commission for England and Wales' Discussion Paper might treat such claims. It concludes by examining what assistance the law may gain from a deeper understanding of how a sense of agency emerges from brain states, and the implications of this scientific knowledge for the reform of the law., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

The article offers an overview of the Law Commission's project on Insanity and Automatism and the provisional conclusions reached in its Discussion Paper in 2013., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

The automatism defence has been described as a quagmire of law and as presenting an intractable problem. Why is this so? This paper will analyse and explore the current legal position on automatism. In so doing, it will identify the problems which the case law has created, including the distinction between sane and insane automatism and the status of the 'external factor doctrine', and comment briefly on recent reform proposals., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

"Sleep sex," also known as sexsomnia, is a sleep disorder characterized by sexual behaviors committed while asleep. There has recently been increased interest in sexsomnia due to controversies arising in legal trials that have been widely publicized in the social and public media. This article attempts to marshal the current information about sexsomnia from the forensic literature and provides an overview of sexsomnia including common features, precipitating factors, prevalence rates, diagnostic procedures, and treatment. As sexsomnia represents a condition in which sexual acts are committed without awareness or intention, this paper also reviews the development of sexsomnia as a legal defense and summarizes Canadian case law on the topic. It provides an overview of the hurdles presented to defense attorneys attempting to utilize the defense and examines popular public notions surrounding the legitimacy of sexsomnia and the possibility of malingering. We conclude that sexsomnia is a legitimate sleep disorder for which case law now exists to support its use in legal defenses based on automatism. The question of whether it is an example of "sane" or "insane" automatism remains to be determined by the courts. Regardless of whether or not sexsomnia is determined to be a mental disorder by the courts, it is now a recognized and well-described sleep disorder that can be safely treated and managed by knowledgeable clinicians.

In their paper "The Musical Stroop Effect: Opening a New Avenue to Research on Automatisms," Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronnat (2013) use a musical Stroop-like task to demonstrate the automaticity of musical note naming in musicians. In addition, the authors suggest that music training can serve as a tool in order to study the acquisition of automaticity. In the following commentary, we aim to address three main issues concerning the paper by Grégoire et al. (2013). First, we will suggest some additional interpretations of the results; specifically, we will relate to the association between music and space. Second, we will discuss a methodological issue dealing with interference, facilitation, and the role of the neutral condition. We suggest that the study by Grégoire et al. (2013) lacks a proper neutral condition and thus it is impossible to assert that the congruency effect is interference based. Third, we will discuss the authors' suggestion of using the musical Stroop effect as a tool for studying automatism. We consider the practical relevance of music training as a tool for studying the acquisition of automaticity by pointing out that music training is highly heterogeneous.

The human stress hormone cortisol may facilitate effective coping after psychological stress. In apparent agreement, administration of cortisol has been demonstrated to reduce fear in response to stressors. For anxious patients with phobias or posttraumatic stress disorder this has been ascribed to hypothetical inhibition of retrieval of traumatic memories. However, such stress-protective effects may also work via adaptive regulation of early cognitive processing of threatening information from the environment. This paper selectively reviews the available literature on effects of single cortisol administrations on affect and early cognitive processing of affectively significant information. The concluded working hypothesis is that immediate effects of high concentration of cortisol may facilitate stress-coping via inhibition of automatic processing of goal-irrelevant threatening information and through increased automatic approach-avoidance responses in early emotional processing. Limitations in the existing literature and suggestions for future directions are briefly discussed., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this paper I take into account an image, or concept, that of 'machine', and more precisely one of its most problematic and controversial derivations, that of 'man-machine', which are at the basis of all the representations, and in particular medical representations, of the human action as a result of an 'automatism' as well as of man as an 'automaton'. More in detail, I try to analyse the theoretical framework, the rhetorical structure and the medical derivation of Julien Offray de la Mettrie's concept of the 'man-machine', and to cast light on a double phenomenon of semantic distortion and of individuation of new shades of meaning that the semantic field of the 'mechanical' underwent in La Mettrie's thought.

This paper examines the automatic processing of the numerical magnitude of two-digit Arabic numbers using a Stroop-like task in school-aged children. Second, third, and fourth graders performed physical size judgments on pairs of two-digit numbers varying on both physical and numerical dimensions. To investigate the importance of synchrony between the speed of processing of the numerical magnitude and the physical dimensions on the size congruity effect (SCE), we used masked priming: numerical magnitude was subliminally primed in half of the trials, while neutral priming was used in the other half. The results indicate a SCE in physical judgments, providing the evidence of automatic access to the magnitude of two-digit numbers in children. This effect was modulated by the priming type, as a SCE only appeared when the numerical magnitude was primed. This suggests that young children needed a relative synchronization of numerical and physical dimensions to access the magnitude of two-digit numbers automatically.

This paper focuses on automatic number processing as instantiated in the size congruity effect. It was recently argued that long-term "associations between individual digits and the attributes 'small' and 'large' create the size congruity effect" (Choplin and Logan 2003, abstract, p. 17). Moreover, these authors proposed the additional assumption that the relevant connections are acquired over a lifetime of experience with numbers. We show that at least one of these assumptions is not true: either the size congruity effect derives from an (online) comparison effect between two numbers at the time of stimulus presentation (violating the first assumption) or the relevant connections flexibly change (offline) between trials during the course of one experimental session (violating the second assumption).

Without slighting the important role played by controlled psychological processes in human aggression, this paper recommends that considerable systematic attention should also be given to the operation of automatic processes in bringing about this behavior. The concepts of automaticity and impulsivity are discussed briefly and it is proposed that many impulsive actions, particularly antisocial ones, are due to failures of restraint after they were initiated involuntarily. A number of experiments are reviewed in which situational stimuli automatically instigated or heightened aggressive inclinations. These have to do with associations in hostility displacement, reactions to stigmatized persons, and association in aggressive reactions to media violence. The last-mentioned studies deal especially with factors affecting the selection of the target for aggression. In discussing these findings it is suggested that after the crucial situational features had automatically initiated the sequence of determinants, the aggression displayed could have been due either to a hostile appraisal of the target or the activation of aggression-related bodily reactions as well as hostile ideas. It is also hypothesized that in at least one of the studies, an experienced negative affect might have instigated the aggression independently of any appraisals., (Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

In the present paper, we focus on how irrelevant implicit spatial information is processed. By irrelevant we mean information that is not required to fulfill the task and by implicit we mean information that is not directly available in the external stimulus. A good example of a task in which such information exists is the SNARC task [Dehaene, S., Bossini, S., & Giraux, P. (1993). The mental representation of parity and number magnitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 371-396]. The SNARC effect shows that the magnitude of a number, although irrelevant to the task, activates spatial codes that may interfere with the task-related response. These spatial associations exist both for the horizontal and the vertical direction. In Experiment 1, response keys were discriminating in the vertical or the horizontal direction. It is shown that the impact of the numerical spatial codes on overt behavior, although automatic, depends on the response discrimination of the horizontal or the vertical dimension. In Experiment 2, response keys were assigned such that both the horizontal and the vertical direction of the response were discriminating. In this case, the horizontal and the vertical dimension of the irrelevant numerical spatial codes were shown to interact. In general, the results are in line with the response-discrimination account [Ansorge, U., & Wühr, P. (2004). A response-discrimination account of the Simon effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 365-377].

It is widely assumed that synaesthetic perception is highly automatic, as shown by Stroop test. Furthermore, it has been shown that, although automatic, it can be suppressed leading to Negative Priming (NP). However, these assumptions have not been consistently investigated, as not many papers have measured Stroop in synaesthesia, and only one used a NP procedure. Two experiments were carried out in a female synaesthete (MA), and 13 control participants, in which numbers and letters were displayed in colours either congruent or incongruent with MA's photisms. In contrast to control participants, MA showed significant Stroop effect both when naming the colours and when naming the photisms (slower RT when naming a colour or photism that was incongruently coloured versus congruently coloured). For comparison, we also report a control experiment in which the first letters of colour names were displayed in either congruent (e.g., B in blue) or incongruent (e.g., B in red) colours. Significant Stroop and NP effects were found when a control group named the displayed colour of these letters. The synaesthesic Stroop effect shown by MA was greater than that observed in the Control Experiment when MA was to name the displayed colour, but smaller when she was to name the photism of the stimuli. Regarding NP, MA showed an effect similar to that observed in the Control Experiment, but only when she was to name the photisms of the stimuli. Altogether, these results show that synaesthetic perception is highly automatic and difficult to inhibit.

Automaticity is the term given by psychologists to the skilled action that people develop through repeatedly practising the same activity, for example driving a car. Usually, automaticity is discussed in terms of the benefits it brings to people, such as the reduction in the degree of conscious attention a person needs to pay to such skilled activities. However, there is evidence to suggest that substantial costs may also be associated with such learned behaviour. Managing patient safety is a difficult task and one of the ways in which health-care professionals seek to accomplish it is through the use of verbal challenge-response protocols. However, it is argued in this paper that it is possible for the negative effects of automaticity to involuntarily capture those using such verbal checklist techniques and cause them to erroneously believe that the treatment that they are about to administer to a patient is safe when it is not. This phenomenon does not, however, seem to have been recognized by the health-care community nationally or internationally. We conclude that patient safety could be significantly improved worldwide if the organizational arrangements which appear to induce involuntary automaticity were to be robustly addressed by the management of all health-care organizations.

A classical definition of automaticity establishes that automatic processing occurs without attention or consciousness, and cannot be controlled. Previous studies have demonstrated that semantic priming can be reduced if attention is directed to a low-level of analysis. This finding suggests that semantic processing is not automatic since it can be controlled. In this paper, we present two experiments that demonstrate that semantic processing may occur in the absence of attention and consciousness. A negative semantic priming effect was found when a low-level prime-task was required and when a masked lexical decision prime-task was performed (Experiment 1). This paper also discusses the limitations of the inhibitory mechanism involved in negative semantic priming effect.

This paper explores the specificity of the relationship between rapid automatic naming and reading fluency. Reading accuracy, rate, and fluency was measured among a sample of 67 children, the majority of whom were very poor readers. Regression analyses revealed that phonological processing tasks predicted reading accuracy and comprehension whereas rapid digit (but not picture) naming predicted reading accuracy and rate. After further controlling reading accuracy, digit naming was still a significant predictor of reading rate. This suggests that rapid alphanumeric naming is a highly specific predictor of reading rate and that rapid digit naming and phonological processing are distinct contributors to different aspects of reading in poor readers.

Actions performed in a state of automatism are not subject to moral evaluation, while automatic actions often are. Is the asymmetry between automatistic and automatic actions justified? In order to answer this question we need a model of moral accountability that does justice to our intuitions about a range of modes of agency, both pathological and non-pathological. Our aim in this paper is to lay the groundwork for the development of such a model.

The paper examines the experimental design, typography and editorial strategies of the rare avant-garde publication Four Pages - Onanism of Death - And So On (1930), published by Oskar Davičo, Đorđe Kostić and Đorđe Jovanović, probably the first Surrealist Edition of the Belgrade surrealist group. Starting from its unconventional format and the way authors (re)shape and (mis)direct each page in an autonomous fashion, I further analyze the intrinsic interaction between the text, its graphic embodiment and surrounding para-textual elements (illustrations, body text, titles, folding, dating, margins, comments). Special attention is given to the concepts of depersonalization, free association and automatic writing as primary poetical sources for the delinearisation of the reading process and 'emancipation' of the text, its content and syntax as well as its position, direction, and visual materiality on the page. Resisting conventional classifications and simplified distinctions between established print media and genres, this surrealist single-issue placard magazine mixes elements of the poster, magazine, and booklet. Its ambiguous nature leads us toward theoretical discussion of the avant-garde magazine as an autonomous literary genre and original, self-sufficient artwork, as was already suggested by the theory of Russian formalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the "dual-process" information-processing model of Schneider and Shiffrin (Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M., Psychol. Rev. 84: 1-66, 1977; see also Shiffrin, R. M., and Schneider, W., Psychol. Rev. 84: 127-190, 1977) in light of the research data that have accumulated since the model was introduced more than 20 years ago. First, a brief introduction of the basic model of automatic and controlled information processing will be given. Second, some alternatives to the basic model that were developed over the last two decades will be reviewed. Third, data from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience that have a bearing upon this framework will be considered. Finally, some comments on the current usefulness of the dual-process framework for neuropsychological research will be offered.

Copyright of Revista Educación en Ingeniería is the property of Asociacion Colombiana de Facultades de Ingenieria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Eponymic terms or eponyms are labels describing phenomena that reflect the name(s) of the person(s) who first described the phenomena. Using a similar term to describe different forms of pathology leads to a muddle. In this paper, we describe "Clerambault's syndrome" and "Kandinsky-Clerambault's syndrome" and discuss and clarify the confusion surrounding these different syndromes.

The governance of sleep sex (or sexsomnia) in the criminal law is a nightmare. Press reports of sleeping, often drunk, men acquitted as automatons of raping adults and children suggest cases are rising. The use of automatism, rather than insanity, in these cases is strong evidence of the immemorial struggle faced by legal psychiatry in appropriately construing unconscious defendants. This paper responds by drawing on well-established psychoanalytic conceptions of unconsciousness to present sexsomnia as dispositional to the defendant. Taking the Freudian concepts of eros and death instinct, it asserts that sexsomniacs are acting on repressed sadistic desires. Accordingly, those on notice of their sexsomnia, who fail to mitigate the risk of further attacks, should be guilty of rape. Reliance on (a reformed) insanity defence - being a denial of responsibility at the time of the offence - undermines the scope of the criminal law to self-responsibilise sexsomniacs against perpetrating unwanted sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper describes psychiatric and psychological defences to murder where the defence of insanity is not applicable. The charges of murder and manslaughter are outlined. Self-defence, sane and insane automatism, provocation, diminished responsibility, duress, necessity and novel defences are discussed. Conclusions: The complexities of psychological and psychiatric expert evidence are highlighted as well as the fact that legal decisions are not always consistent with medical or scientific theory. It is concluded that this is a controversial and evolving area of mental health law and mental health professionals have an educative role and a responsibility to provide testimony that is supported by the best possible evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This paper seeks to advance the discussion of foreign language automatisms and clinical consequences of Non-Convulsive Status Epilepticus (NCSE) such as post-ictal psychosis. We present the first case of a monolingual English speaker communicating solely in Spanish, a non-native language during an epileptic episode. Method A 70-year old man with no history of seizures, epilepsy, or psychiatric illness presented to his primary care provider with episodes of confusion and "speaking Spanish." Prolonged video EEG performed after admission demonstrated a disorganized background with a mixture of generalized theta and delta activity with frequent focal and generalized ictal and epileptiform activity occurring predominantly out of the right hemisphere. Results Laboratory evaluation punctures were unrevealing. MRI of the brain with and without contrast were both normal. Keppra and Depakote were continued during the admission. His psychosis and cognitive impairment improved slowly over several days though he did not return back to his neurological baseline. He returned to speaking only English after several days of treatment. He continued to have frontal lobe dysfunction with psychotic features. A diagnosis of rapidly progressive dementia of unclear etiology was given. Conclusion Though foreign language automatisms are a rare consequence of NCSE, the combination of psychotic symptoms and confusion presented in this case creates an interesting connection between psychosis, dementia syndromes, and epilepsy, all involving aberrant activity or deficits in similar brain regions. The generation of foreign language automatisms may indicate a form of psychotic symptomology manifesting as a language anomaly as opposed to visual hallucinations, delusions, or formal thought disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its medical importance, the cellular mechanisms activity and the contribution of various ion channels of embryonic heart automatism are not yet fully understood. In this study we investigated the effects of specific ion-channel inhibitors on the generation of action potentials in pacemaker cells of the right atrium in chicken embryos (HH36). We used microelectrode technique and evaluated the sensitivity of pacemaker cells to ivabradine (inhibitor of HCN-channels, through which the hyperpolarization-activated current, If), ryanodine (agonist of ryanodine receptors) and SN6 (inhibitor of Na+/Ca2+-exchange). It was found that the right atrium cells have a phase of slow diastolic depolarization. However, these cells were not sensitive to ivabradine (3 µM). We did not register significant changes in the electrophysiological parameters of action potentials. When ryanodine (1 µM) and SN6 (10 µM) were added to the perfusion solution, we observed similar effects: spontaneous rate the generation of action potential increased by 15%. Disturbance of rhythmic activity or disruption of the generation of electrical impulses were not observed in right atrial samples of chicken embryos. The obtained results allow us to conclude that, at this of embryonic development stage, HCN4-channels, ryanodine receptors, and the Na+/Ca2+-exchange are not decisive for maintaining the automatism of the right atrial cells in the chick embryo. We assume that the ion currents flowing through these channels are important in electrophysiology in adult animals, but they have a modulating function in the embryonic myocardium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relations between automatic processing and (the absence of) consciousness are discussed in this paper. It is argued that automatic processing should not be identified with the absence of consciousness. The organism has access to representations resulting from automatic processing, but these representations, in contrast to the representations resulting from nonautomatic processing, are not propositional. Therefore monitoring of the process, the defining feature of nonautomatic processing, is not possible.

Our goal in this paper was to examine the processes that give rise to action slips. Procedures used to examine implicit memory and automatic processes were found to be unsatisfactory. However, the process-dissociation procedure proved useful for examining the contribution of the automatic and controlled processes underlying performance. The procedure was used in conjunction with a Sternberg memory-search task to examine the effects of set size, response speed, and stimulus-response mapping on controlled and automatic processes. The formulation allowed us to predict accurately how subjects would perform in a varied mapping condition. Moreover, set size and response speed were found to influence the controlled search process, but to leave the automatic influences unaffected. Stimulus-response mapping, on the other hand, was found to lead to probability matching in the automatic processes; this pattern was found to remain constant across changes in set size and response speed.