Maryland gubernatorial candidates present health care platforms.
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Delivery of Health Care↗
Biomedical subjects
Robert Ehrlich
Publications and source records attributed to Robert Ehrlich.
The human brain's algorithm for extrapolating motion, and its possible gender-dependence.
Some athletes accomplish feats requiring a timing accuracy 100 times better than their reaction time. This capability implies that the brain can accurately extrapolate the motion of objects. We hypothesize that the brain uses a simple algorithm to accomplish this extrapolation, and that the algorithm is influenced by the subject's gender and recent observations of motion. We describe an experiment in timing the motion of a dot across a computer screen designed to discover the motion extrapolation algorithm. Different types of motion of the dot were studied. The experiment was conducted with 126 college students (two-thirds female), who each performed 1000 trials. By using as many as 126,000 trials, the random noise inherent in individual trials averages out, allowing the underlying algorithm to be revealed. The results show that motion extrapolation is done using the average velocity of a moving object with no correction for changes in velocity during the motion, but with an ad hoc adjustment based on recently observed motions and on gender-males having on average a smaller error than females. A future controlled experiment will be needed to establish whether the observed gender difference is due to the greater experience of males with such related tasks as video games and sports.
Algorithms↗
Loewald's approach to psychoanalytic theory.
The author suggests that part of the legacy of Hans Loewald is the nature of his approach to psychoanalytic theory. Loewald carefully considered and selectively utilized the work of theorists from a number of psychoanalytic schools of thought: id psychology, object relations theory, ego psychology, self psychology, and the interpersonal tradition. In addition, he helped pave the way for the current widespread interest in intersubjectivity, and also positioned himself in relation to those who embraced hermeneutics. Through all of this, he maintained a skeptical attitude, embodied in his belief in the complexity of the phenomena to be explored and his commitment to the perspective that psychoanalytic ideas should be open to revision.
Ego↗
Winnicott's response to Klein.
The author suggests that, although Donald Winnicott presented some important criticisms of Melanie Klein's work, at times he tried to advance his perspectives too definitively without adequately considering her own. Because of this, he failed to acknowledge sufficiently that he was offering a model of human nature and development that could be revised. The fact that his differences with Klein arose in the context of a complex relationship in which each played numerous roles for the other, especially in the context of their affiliation with the British Psychoanalytical Society, periodically made it difficult for him to present his ideas more carefully and in his more characteristically open manner.
History, 20th Century↗