Biomedical subjects

T Pollmann

Publications and source records attributed to T Pollmann.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1998

On forgetting the historical past.

In this paper, empirical data are presented related to memory and time perception. The data are the frequencies with which specific calendar years are cited in newspaper texts. When plotted, the curves produced by the time series of these frequencies turn out to be independent of the languages and cultures in which the texts have been written as well as the year and the year density of the text corpus. The frequency of a specific year is inversely proportional to the distance from that year to the year in which the texts were written. It is argued that these curves are forgetting curves. It is suggested that the curves might be explained in terms of the "cognitive distance" between past and present. An argument is presented based on the curve representing the frequencies with which future years are cited in newspaper texts.

Attention↗

PubMed1996

The language user as an arithmetician.

Dutch, like other languages, has approximative expressions with two numerals, for example: "twee, drie boeken" (lit. two, three books; two or three books). This construction is analysed. It turns out that the choice of number words is not arbitrary. Various kinds of factor are involved, as is shown using language materials from large corpora of Dutch texts. The interval between the two numbers has to be 1, 2, 2 1/2 or 5, multiplied by 10n, at least in the decimal number system. It is argued that in daily life this set of so-called "favourite numbers" has a special role. Coins and banknotes, prices of special offers, bidding conventions in auctions are based on, or make use of, this set of numbers. An explanation for this favouritism is offered in the framework of the triple-code model of human number processing proposed by Dehaene. The explanation substantiates Dehaene's claim of the existence of an analogue magnitude code used in estimating and comparing. Human cognition seems to be able to perform simple calculations with quantities (e.g., halving and doubling), independently of any counting or number system.

Humans↗

PubMed1989

[Invasive pulmonary monitoring in acute necrotizing pancreatitis. A decision aid for indications for surgery?].

From January 1986 to September 1988 16 patients with necrotizing forms of acute pancreatitis underwent invasive pulmonary monitoring at the Departments of General Surgery and Anesthesiology of Münster University Hospitals. Six patients had Stage II and ten Stage III disease according to the Mainz Clinical Classification for acute pancreatitis. Mortality was 37.5% in the reported series. Acute pancreatitis is characterized in cardiopulmonary terms by elevated levels for Cardiac Output (CO), Cardiac Index (CI) and Intrapulmonary Shunting (vAdmix), whereas Systemic Vascular Resistance (SVR) is significantly reduced. A decrease of SVR of more than 200 dyn s cm-5 may be an early indicator for a septic period, and, therefore, warrant operation.

Abdomen, Acute↗