Sunday, January 26, 2020

Relationship Between Rubber Hand Illusion And Interoceptive Awareness

Relationship Between Rubber Hand Illusion And Interoceptive Awareness When and artificial hand is placed in a position compatible with the participants own posture, i.e. a position that is plausible anatomically with regard to the participants body, then the combination of visual input from the rubber hand and tactile stimulation to the participants hidden hand produces the feeling that the rubber hand is part of the body in around half of participants. The incidence of the illusion as well as its intensity is substantially reduced when the visual and tactile stimuli are applied asynchronously, so that the feeling on the hand is not matched by what the participant sees on the rubber hand. This reduction also occurs when the rubber hand is put in a posture that is anatomically implausible(e.g. Tsakiris Haggard, 2005). The term interoception was coined by Charles Sherrington (1907) in the same paper that he introduces the terms proprioception and exteroception. in the original definition, the term referred solely to visceral sensations. However, now it has come to encompass the physiological state of the body as a whole, and the mechanism by which afferent information reaches conscious awareness and affects behaviour, which can occur both indirectly and directly. Interoception relates to the way in which people perceive feelings from their bodies that affect mood, the sense of well-being and even emotions (Cameron, 2002). The field of interoception has been aided greatly by the advent of functional imaging. Thus far, research has been limited in its scope to contribute to the understanding of self-awareness and, by extension, consciousness. The rubber hand illusion has important implications for interoception because it implies that information from proprioceptors- the mechanoreceptors in the hand and arm- can be overridden fairly easily by visual information. However, it is important to remember that it is not visual information alone that the participant is subject to; they are also receiving proprioceptive input to their unseen hand. Ramachandran (2005) suggests that rather than the more cognitive Helmholtzian unconscious inference explanation posited by others (e.g. Lackner, 1988), the rubber hand illusion can be explained from a Bayesian perspective. Several (e.g. Alais Burr, 2004; Ernst Banks, 2002) have shown that adults are able to integrate information both within and between senses in what appears to be a statistically optimal (Bayes-optimal) fashion. The fact that Bayesian models fit human behavioural results so well fits with the evidence that synchronous stimulation in two modalities can bring about chang es in interoception. In a more natural environment, the probability of seeing something in the outside world being stimulated and feeling identical stimulation on a consistent body part is vanishingly unlikely and so it seems unsurprising that the neural machinery that fuses information between the senses is subject to this illusion. A more recent experiment has shown that both the afferent and efferent elements of the body in motion are able to influence the feeling of ownership (Tsakiris, Prabhu Haggard, 2006). The authors found that the rubber hand illusion could be elicited solely on the basis of hand movements. In a variation on the methodology, participants had a virtual hand projected to the front of them while their own hand was hidden. Both the participants index finger and the same finger of the virtual hand underwent up and down motions, which could be done either actively or passively. When movements were in synchrony, participants reported that they felt as if their own hand was nearer the virtual hand than when motion was asynchronous as in the classic illusion. Under the passive condition, as in the classic condition, the illusion is a result of integration of visual and proprioceptive information. Conversely, there is also efferent information signalling that the finger is moving in the active co ndition. One difference between the conditions was that the proprioceptive drift only affected the index finger in the passive condition. The rest of the fingers were not perceived as being closer to the virtual hand. However, in the active condition, proprioceptive drift affected the whole hand. Therefore, the effect was more local when afferent information alone was available, but more global when there was efferent information as well. Tsakiris et al came to the conclusion that efferent information can influence interoception and the sense of bodily ownership by unifying the body into a coherent whole. One possible argument against the view that the rubber hand illusion shows that visual information can override proprioceptive information is that the participant may simply be speaking metaphorically when they say that they feel as if the rubber hand is part of their body. This problem arises from the fact that measures of the extent of the elusion are based on self report. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) studies have examined whether the rubber hand is truly incorporated into the participants body image. Evolutionarily, it is necessary to protect the body from physical harm, and so threat to they body elicits feelings of anxiety, the withdrawal tendency, and increased autonomic arousal (e.g. Cooke Graziano, 2003; Kalisch et al, 2005). Therefore, it seems fair to say that for something to qualify as being part of the body, the brains homeostatic mechanisms should react as if it is when it is under threat. This hypothesis has received support from the fact that hitting the table near t he false hand with a hammer leads to increased GSR during the rubber hand illusion (Armel Ramachandran, 2003). There was no change in GSR during the control condition in which the rubber and real hands were stimulated asynchronously. Ehrsson et al (2007) have gone even further than this and shown using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging that areas of the brain associated with interoception, i.e. the anterior cingulate cortex and insula are active during the rubber hand illusion. The convexity cortex of the anterior cingulate and cingulate cortex have been shown to become active during both the experience of pain and anticipation of it (e.g. Craig et al, 1996; Wager et al, 2004). The anterior insular cortex has also been shown to become active during pain anticipation, the experience of pain and also pain empathy (e.g. Singer et al, 2004). Furthermore, coactivation of these regions during experiments has been linked to interoceptive awareness and emotional processing (Farrell, Laird Egan, 2005; Craig, 2003). The authors suggested that the activity they found in response to threat to the rubber hand most likely reflected participants anxiety as they were elevated more when the participant felt ownership of the rubber hand than when they did not. Significantly, this activity was specific to threats to the body and was not seen in response to empathy for pain or looking at the syringe (which was used to threaten the rubber hand). This is strong evidence that the rubber hand illusion leads to changes in the participants interoception. Tsakaris (2010) describes the rubber hand illusion as a model example of how the normal sense of embodiment works, and argues that it can be used to examine how the experience of the body as belonging to the individual comes about, is maintained, and perhaps even how it can be disturbed. He puts forward a neurocognitive model in which body ownership is the result of interactions between current information from all of the senses and internal models regarding the body. This model begins with pre-existing models of the body that are stored in the right temporo-parietal junction. These allow distinction between objects that may be embodied and those that may not. Subsequently, on-line postural and anatomical representations of the body (in the secondary somatosensory cortex) allow modulation of this multisensory information. This in turn allows the visual and haptic co-ordinate systems to be recalibrated in order to respond to current demands of the environment. This is done by the vent ral premotor and posterior parietal cortices, which contain neurons that code for recalibration of the hand-centred co-ordinate system. This results in referral of haptic sensation that leads to subjective experiences of body ownership, which arises in the right posterior insula. Some similar ideas are expressed by de Vignemont. She argues that bodily sensations are experience through a multimodal spatial representation of ones body. This view leads directly to the prediction that the sense of ownership of the body should be influenced by information in the visual modality, as in the rubber hand illusion. She also points out that proprioceptive information decays very quickly while the hand is stationary, and that it is often vision that dominates the other sensory modalities (e.g. Welch and Warren, 1986). This provides further support for the idea that the spatial content of haptic sensations should rely more on the visual modality than proprioception. This can account for the fact that when Botvinick and Cohen asked their participants to reach towards the hand that had been stimulated (using their other hand), this motion was displaced toward the rubber hand rather than their unseen hand. This distortion of proprioception and the sense of the location of th e body comes from the emphasis on information in the visual modality, which can also account for the subjective feeling of ownership of the hand. This results from the localisation of the haptic information within a representation of the body that has been constructed from the information available to the participant. In the illusion, the descriptive aspect of the haptic sensation is accurate, however, the spatial aspect has been shifted. Craig (2009) examines the role of the insula in interoceptive awareness in areas as diverse as gastric distension, heartbeat and pain. He identifies awareness of bodily movements (rather than the sense of agency regarding movements) as a possible role for the insular cortex, as well as speech, self recognition and various emotions, describing an emotional salience network in which insular cortical areas feature. He also suggests that the anterior insular cortex plays a role in performance maintenance in which it is put at the heart of the switch to self reflective networks from central executive functioning. The insula is argued to contain representations of the self at every moment in time and to provide comparison between representations at different points in time. The predictive role that this implies may explain the role of the insula in emotions such as anxiety. He also examines the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in interoception and self awareness, noting its numerous c onnections with the insular cortex. He also posits an evolutionary theory, wherein the anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortex developed independently, but subsequently came to have more integrated functioning that performed the role of interoception, specifically managing autonomic activity. He argues that this explains the close relationship of the two areas in various neuroimaging studies. In conclusion, the rubber hand illusion has provided much insight into human interoception. It has revealed the different kinds of information involved in this process by showing how it can be tricked, as well as the flexibility inherent in the system. Neuroimaging studies using the illusion have revealed the mediating brain areas, which in turn leads to tantalising hints about how the conscious sense of the body arises. The experience of ownership of the body may be a significant aspect of self-specificity. This illustrated by the different ways that multisensory integration and internal models of the body are able to manipulate important psychological and even physical elements of the self, the prime example being the rubber hand illusion. Interoception has important implications for some groups of patients, in particular amputees. The rubber hand illusion has shown how outside objects can fairly easily be integrated into the body image. The withdrawal reactions that are elicited f rom participants are the same in kind to those that arise when replacement limbs are under threat.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Internationalization form

In characterizing the different international business forms available, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) have made a distinction between global, international, transnational and multinational organizations. Wax’s organizational structure can be described as an integrated network structure, with resources, decisions, and responsibilities being dispersed and specialized, but interdependent. Each of the different local units makes differentiated contributions to Wax’s worldwide operations, and its strategic advantage derives from the ability to achieve worldwide competitiveness, local responsiveness, and global innovation simultaneously.As such, it can be typified as a transnational (Bartlett and Goshal, 1989). Pelmutter has made a distinction between ethnocentric, polycentric, heterarchical, and geocentric organizations (Hedlund, 1986, p. 9-35). Using Pelmutter’s typology, Wax’s organizational structure can be described as a heterarchy (or network) (as opposed to a mother/daughter, divisional, or matrix structure), with the role of its various subsidiaries being to make local contributions to the firm’s local as well as global strategies.Its strategic advantage can be described as deriving from the flexibility in the worldwide market that its structure affords. As such, using Pelmutter’s classification, the form of decentralization at Wax can be described as heterachical rather than ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric (Hedlund, 1986, p. 9-35). References: Hedlund, G. 1986. â€Å"The hypermodern MNC – A heterarchy? † Human Resource Management, Vol. 25 1986, No. 1, pp. 9–35. Bartlett, C. A. and Ghoshal, S. 1989. Managing across borders: The transnational solution.Boston. Q. 2: Explicate how a management accounting system could enable the Salvation Army to respond to the la? cit? requirements. Specify how resource allocation could be accounted for: Cost control is a central component of management accoun ting. Using techniques such as lifecycle costing and activity-based costing, the Salvation Army will be able to â€Å"identify, measure, analyze, accumulate, prepare, interpret, and communicate† the proper costs relating to key activities such as social work and evangelism (CIMA, 2009).In this regard, the management accounting system will help to provide a proper perspective on costs, thus helping to rein in costs and improve cost transparency. This will help the organization to meet its goals more appropriately (for example, getting a proper handle on costs would help it reach more people with soup, soap and salvation), while enhancing transparency and accountability in the way it uses its resources (Lucey, 2003).The establishment of an effective management accounting system (underpinned by a modern management information system) will yield a more accurate and precise platform for the â€Å"identification, measurement, analysis, accumulation, preparation, interpretation, an d communication† of information (CIMA, 2009). This in turn will aid and drastically help improve the operational and financial performance of the organization, given that both operational and financial decisions will be made on the basis of such information. Given that management accounting is forward-looking, it will facilitate forecasting and planning (Lucey, 2003).Such a management accounting system will help to identify risks that may hinder the organization from meeting its goals (for example, a likelihood of reduced donor funds), and towards this end, will facilitate the implementation of risk management strategies to avert the risks and help the Salvation Army meet its objectives (Lucey, 2003). Resource allocation must ensure a balance between the organization’s social and spiritual goals. Towards this end, a proper determination of the resources required by each of these two departments must be made, priorities ranked, and matched to the resources available.Qual ified accountants must be given the independence and authority to draw the organization’s financial statements, which must be audited by external and independent auditors such as those from the Ministry of Social Services (given that the Salvation Army is also a charity) (Chadwick, 1993). References: Chadwick, L. 1993. Management accounting. Routledge. ISBN 0415070848, 9780415070843 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). 2009. Official terminology. Lucey, T. 2003. Management accounting. Continuum. ISBN 0826463606, 9780826463609.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Human Resource Management Human Resources Development

Human resource management entails managing recruitment, planning, and implementing a selection of organizational development training within the business. The goals that the HRM has is maximizing the productivity of the workplace by improving the effectiveness of their employees while at one time improving and treating the work life of employees as valuable resources. Human resources development: To encompasses the efforts to promote personal development, the company’s employee satisfaction, and agreement with employment-related laws. The planning function that the HRM develops from the human resource policies and regulations attempt to determine future HRM plans and activities for the operations. The HRM procedure is to help companies realize their goals. Human resource development is like an investment that an organize places through training, organizational and career development. Human Resource takes on a lot of responsibilities for leadership and staff. In this business world Human Resource development has become much more strategic over the past several years to conduct a lot more training for the workplace. Human Resource is an important department that matters. When you look at the challenges and successes in business workplace it is because of the actions of the human resources. Since HR is becoming a distinguishing competitive advantage the management of such resources is vital. When prompted about the importance of HR productivity founder of Global LearningShow MoreRelatedHuman Resource Management ( Hrm ) And Human Resources Development Essay882 Words   |  4 PagesLeadership in Human Resource Management (HRM) and Human Resource Development (HRD) have strong associations to people based initiatives within an organization. Employee actions and behaviors are inï ¬â€šuenced by HRM practices such as stafï ¬ ng, evaluation of employees, and incentives or rewards, and HRD practices such as training and career development. HRM is tasked with making the best possible use of the organizations human  resources, while HRD is an extension of HRM that focuses on the development of theRe ad MoreDevelopment Of Human Resource Management Essay1657 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Thirty-two years of development of human resource management in China: Review and prospects† (Shuming Zhao, Juan Du, 2012) is a journal paper that concentrating on the hypothetical advancements and practical applications of HRM, it first audits the move of HRM in China from planned labor force allocation to current HR management in three particular eras since China s reformation and opening-up. After, it analyzes and discusses the difficulties of human resource management research and its practicesRead MoreThe Relationship Between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development976 Words   |  4 Pagesthe Relationship Between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development Diana Williams National American University Understanding the Relationship Between Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development Human resource management (HRM) is the umbrella under which all other human resource activities are found. Some of the major activities under the umbrella are: benefits and compensation, health safety and security, human resource planning, staffing, equal employmentRead MorePerformance Management : Human Resource Development1246 Words   |  5 PagesPerformance Management; Talent Management; Organizational Development: Human Resource Development Over sometime, King has been under great scrutiny for the way situations have been handled in the past. 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This report will also include definitions of personnel and human resource management along with their main functions. DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Compare And Contrast Achilles And Aeneas - 1263 Words

Bryan Gilbert DWC 101: Paper 1 11/01/2017 Heroes of Opposing Audiences A comparison of Homer’s Achilles and Virgil’s Aeneas brings up the question concerning what makes someone an epic hero. Although each poet lived in a dramatically different time period, with different literary integrity, Homer and Virgil each portray an epic hero using different development of the characters, but similar themes and influences. Achilles and Aeneas demonstrate that an epic hero will do whatever it takes to fulfill their duties while simultaneously displaying the difference between Greek and Roman Society. The question will be answered by first, analyzing the individual characteristics of Achilles, a merciless warrior, and Aeneas, a civilized leader, then†¦show more content†¦He expresses no fear during battles. Throughout the Iliad, Achilles ignores the norms of the society primarily because he sees himself as a greater figure than one who has to follow a set of rules. Throughout the poem, Achilles shows how much of a savage he is through his gruesome actions. While fighting Hector, after brutally beating him up, Hector begs Achilles to return his body for a proper burial, a respected act after a battle. â€Å"Do not allow the dogs to mutilate my body By the Greek ships†, requested Hector (Homer,433). Achilles responds feeling no remorse, â€Å"I wish my stomach would let me cut off your flesh in strips and eat it raw for what you ve done to me. In this passage of the Iliad, Homer illustrates how gruesome Achilles really was. Achilles lets his anger drive his actions, seeking redemption, and he offers no respect to any of his enemies. Conversely, Virgil depicts Aeneas as a more civilized leader. Aeneas gets detoured on his trip to Italy and finds himself in Carthage. He falls in love with Dido after being stuck with her in a cave and their relationship progress quickly. Aeneas plans to stay with Dido and help rebuild her city instead of continuing his journey to conquer his own. Mercury is sent by Jupiter to remind Aeneas what he was sent out to do in the first place. â€Å"What about your own realm, your own affairs?† Mercury asked Aeneas (Virgil, 83). Aeneas was stunned, but he knew Mercury was right. This meant that it was time for him to leaveShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between Paradise Lost And Paradise Lost1239 Words   |  5 Pagesantiquity There are many ways to compare and contrast Paradise Lost with the three other epics of antiquity. The epics are Paradise Lost, Aeneid, The Epic Gilgamesh, and The Iliad. The most obvious difference is era. Paradise Lost is an epic poem from the 17th century and is written in blank verse which is the most modern phrasing method. According to an article on Enotes, out of the other three epics, the Iliad and Aeneid came from the same dactyllic family. (â€Å"Compare Miltons Paradise Lost†). MeanwhileRead MoreAchilles Slaughtered The Great Trojan Hero Essay1271 Words   |  6 PagesAchilles slaughtered the great Trojan hero, Hector and single-handedly changed the tide of the battle. He was a marvelous Greek hero, but his accomplishments paled in comparison to his friend Odysseus. In addition to accruing glory and fame in the Trojan War, Odysseus went on to write history in an epic journey all across the Mediterranean to return to his family. Odysseus acquired more kleos than an y other Greek hero in Homer’s epics. The Greeks considered kleos to be the measure of a manRead MoreAchilles Slaughtered The Greatest Trojan Hero Essay1276 Words   |  6 Pages Achilles slaughtered the greatest Trojan hero, Hector and singlehandedly changed the tide of the battle. Achilles was a marvelous Greek hero, but his accomplishments were minor compared to his friend Odysseus. He also accrued glory and fame in the Trojan War but in addition went on to write history in an epic journey all across the Mediterranean to get home to his family. Odysseus acquired more kleos than any other Greek hero in Homer’s epics. In the Greek’s eyes, kleos was the measure ofRead MoreThe Iliad Of All Time Essay1441 Words   |  6 Pagesaround destiny, the Iliad’s underlying theme is human nature and man’s quest for glory through war. The Aeneid, however, consistently reminds us that the glory to be sought is the future history’s glories, basically saying commitment to destiny was Aeneas’ role so that Caesar and his line can reach their glory. Virgil’s audience during his time would have likely been literate aristocratic patriotic Romans, this allows for allusions to their current state, whether is the way the characters dress, theRead More The Aeneid by Virgil Essay2075 Words   |  9 Pagescoming of Rome and the journey of its Trojan founder, Aeneas, from the wreckage of his old home at Troy. While this text is extremely supportive of the greatness of the Roman Empire, it also has a distinctly private second voice that talks about loss. We also find that in C onfessions by Saint Augustine the author at times addresses God very personally, and at other times does not refer to him much at all. The private tones of these two texts contrast in that Augustine’s is generally positive, whileRead MoreEssay on Compare and Contrast of Odysseus and Aeneas2135 Words   |  9 PagesCompare and Contrast of Odysseus and Aeneas Odysseus, the hero in The Odyssey, and Aeneas, the hero in The Aeneid, fought in opposing sides in the Trojan war. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and was arguably the smartest king and warrior in all of Greece, whereas Aeneas was a warrior from Troy whose destiny was to found the Roman race in Italy. While both men were highly acclaimed by their respective countrymen as heroes, they shared many similarities in respect to their background, their virtueRead More Character Analysis of Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire2156 Words   |  9 Pages Mr. Graves sent her to her next stop on her symbolic journey - a train named Cemeteries. Her final destination was Elysian Fields. The inhabitants of this place are described in Book six of the Aenead: They are the souls, answered his [Aeneas] father Anchises, / Whose destiny it is a second time To live in the flesh and there by the waters of Lethe / They drink the draught that sets them free from care And blots out their memory.(Quirino 61) This is the place of the living