No topic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

No topic - Assignment Example However, very often these expectations were not lived up as it not very easy for the new government to rule the country. These difficulties created new problems for newly independent state, especially if these were African states, which became independent after the long years of colonial regime. Colonizers ruled the country in their own way and it was not very easy for the new government to cope with all the problems that a newly independent country may have faced. There can be the following four main issues of the post-colonial period defined: Sovereignity and safety. The government of the newly independent states should have taken care of sovereignty and safety. This was important because the countries were created and ruled by colonizers and in the new conditions they could easily disintegrate; Propaganda of unity. The colonies created by Europeans had different culture and different languages, thus it was essential to provide national unity. People with different culture and reli gions belief had to realize that they are citizens of one country called Africa. Otherwise, the country would not be able to exist; Ethic conflicts prevention. The main principle of colonial policy was â€Å"divide and rule†. This created very difficult relations between the ethnic groups. Many of them were aggressive in their attitudes towards the other. Thus, it was important for the government to prevent further conflicts; Human services provision. Colonial regime did not prescribe satisfying basic human needs of the citizens of colonies. Colonists needed only their work and did not think about what they need. Thus, it was important for the new government to satisfy basic needs of the citizens of newly independent Africa. 2. The role of women in African nationalism creation was very interesting and it predefined their position in post-colonial society. Some scientists even argue that African nationalism managed to reach its goals at the expense of women and their subordina te position. It means that the nationalists defended women’s interests in order to attract as many people as possible to their movement. It was determined that the struggle for women’s rights was held alongside the struggle for freedom of Africa. Certainly, we can’t omit the fact that the common interests of the struggle usually overshadowed the interests of women as women were initially directed on the struggle for the interests of nationalists. Notwithstanding that nationalists defended women’s interests and talked about â€Å"motherland† instead of â€Å"fatherland†, when they talked about the â€Å"fathers† of the revolution, they still talked about men. This was primarily because most of women who took part in the revolution were uneducated. However, they managed to find the connection between maternity and the fight and turned the ability to give birth into their force. This helped them to move into politics as â€Å"birth give rs for all these men†. 3. State politics can be considered through the concepts of engagement and disengagement. There are four forms of political relations defined: state elite is engaged in regulation; state elite is disengaged due to the obstacles on the way to authority met by elite or elite retrenchment; ordinary citizens are engaged in political regulations; ordinary citizens are disengaged due to bad access to power. The disengagement from the state threatens the hegemony of the state. People do not trust their state and want to

Motherhood and slavery Essay Example for Free

Motherhood and slavery Essay As a capable black woman and as a mother, Sethe feels obligated to provide Beloved, whether her daughter or not, a bed to sleep in and somebody there not worrying you to death about what you got to do each day to deserve it (Beloved 67-68). Therefore, her job as mother, as caretaker, as life-giver and life-maintainer is never-ending, and because it is never-ending, it has the potential to take her to her grave. Beyond that, Sethe fears losing Beloved before she can make her understand that worse than killing her own daughter, —far worse—was what Baby Suggs died of what Ella knew, what Stamp saw and what made Paul D tremble. (Beloved 251). Although not entirely true, for Sethes best thing is herself, the one thing about herself that she values, that slavery has not taken away from her is motherhood. This, for Sethe, is maintaining a mental survival for her children, preventive medicine for the ills of slavery. As Kubitschek notes, On the plantations black womens nurturance—from the physical (nursing milk) to the metaphysical (energy and patience)—is used up primarily in working fields and tending white children (166). But for Sethe, who was able to have her children with her, the major means of protecting children from slavery is to value them and to communicate this value to them (Kubitschek 166). This is a sacrifice Sethe and many mothers, traditional and nontraditional, are more than willing to make. This becomes especially painful in part two of the novel. When Sethe thinks about Beloved and her own actions, she says she will explain it all to Beloved, reflecting, How if I hadnt killed her she would have died and that is something I could not bear to happen to her Ill tend her as no mother ever tended a child, a daughter. Nobody will ever get my milk no more except my own children (Beloved 200). Here we can see transforming and destereotyping potential of Sethes actions. She goes on thinking of how she will change, how she can mother now as a free woman. In this case, it is as if Sethe must be a nontraditional, unstereotypical mother in order to accomplish the traditional mothering role she wants to attain. She also reflects on her faults when Beloved returns, how she was distracted by Paul D and should not have been. But it is at this point that she demonstrates the difference between man and woman, between father and mother. Kubitschek argues that In the twilight area of an illegal freedom, Sethe has immediately, upon being summoned back to slavery, acted on a slave definition of mothering: presence is all (167). Being together, even if dead together, was enough. Presence is all. Lucille Fultz cites Marsha Darlings interview with Morrison in which Morrison asserts: Under the theatrical conditions of slavery, if you made that claim that you are the mother of these children you were claiming the right to say something about what happens to them. Morrison terms Sethes commitment to her children an excess of maternal feeling, a total surrender. This surrender is configured in Sethes desire to protect her daughter from the ills she suffered as a female slave. (40) Sethe takes her protection of her children one step further. Fultz contends that Through desire and knowledge Sethe achieves subjectivity for herself and her children. She refuses to subscribe to the system that treats her and her family as objects (38). She especially needs to make up to Beloved, perhaps because she killed her, or perhaps because the death separated them as Sethe had been separated from her own maam. Kubitschek asserts, Still defining motherhood as keeping her children with her, Sethe cannot reject the ghosts presence (167). Perhaps it is more a loss of a time component than the actual murder component that Sethe regrets. Thus, because she spent so little time with her own mother, she must spend as much time with her daughters as possible, which leads to their month of playing together. Morrison visually paints their month, noting the star-loaded sky, sweet milk, string puzzles in afternoon light, shadow pictures in the gloaming, a garden of vegetables and flowers (Beloved 240). All of this serves Sethes purpose until Beloved decides it is not enough, and Denver realizes that her mother could die and leave them both and what would Beloved do then? (Beloved 243). Beloved has no life of her own, no name, and never did. She was never called anything but the crawling already? girl and Beloved as her gravestone marked her. Not a name to cling to. Morrison tells us that Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name (Beloved 274) because she is a representation of life, many lives, but does not get the opportunity to live her own. She can be the woman during the Middle Passage; she can be the woman in slavery; she can be the woman who escaped slavery; and she is all of these. She embodies each and every woman of the African American motherline and is also linked to Sethes own mother who, like the murdered granddaughter, remains nameless (OReilly 86, 87). But as a result, she is never herself. Morrison poetically crosses three generations of women, who learn and demonstrate survival skills, in a very matriarchally religious trinity—mother: Sethes mother; daughters: Sethe and eventually Denver; and holy ghost: Beloved. Each fights for survival of herself, and of future generations through different means. Sethes mother rebels and is hanged, but impresses upon her daughter what truly matters—the self and a sense of connection with ones own matrilineal line. Sethe escapes slavery with her children and is willing to kill them so that they may survive maintaining their natural selves. Beloved is reincarnated. This is her survival, but it also leads to Denvers ability to survive on her own, which further protects and preserves the potential for future generations. Essentially, all these women can fight for survival at this point in the novel because there is a sense of belonging, of necessity. Sethe gives herself inherence when she places complete necessity on herself for the responsibility of her children. Morrison describes Sethe as a free woman, as a free mother, writing, Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another (Beloved 95). But that is what Sethe is able to do. In the Clearing, she claims herself. At this point, she is finally able to attach herself to the self that she can create. As a result, she can also, hi her mother role, help begin to claim selfhood for those around her. Thus, she returned to 124, opened the door, walked in and locked it tight behind her and when Sethe locked the door, the women inside were free at last to be what they liked, see whatever they saw and say whatever was on their minds (Beloved 198, 199). This is all part of Sethes role as mother. She defends others, her own girls especially, with her whole body, her whole home. Yet, the one thing she does not immediately understand or establish for herself, until Paul D makes her realize it, is that Beloved, her crawling already?girl, was not her best thing. Sethe is a woman destined for survival early on because of the actions she takes and the decisions she makes as a mother, but she cannot see her personal value beyond powerful motherhood until the end, when she is a free woman: free of slavery, free of Beloved, beginning to be free of the past, free of the blame of murdering her daughter to save her, and free of the blame of making the ink schoolteacher used to assess their animal characteristics and measurements (Beloved 271). Then and only then does she fully comprehend the destereotyped notion of best thing as herself. Redefining motherhood for herself, Sethe also redefines the foundation of humanity. By making her character commit that horrible act, Toni Morrison asks her reader: is the inhumanity in Sethe’s killing of the baby or is it in the horrible system that drives her to commit this act? Playing with the reader’s mind, Morrison dislocates scenes of the slaves’ beating that are prevalent in narratives of slavery. For the image of the master holding the stick, she substitutes that of the slave committing a violent act on her own child. From now on the slave is given the opportunity to have a voice. Why murder her baby? With this infanticide, Sethe’s writing of history undermines the ideology that founded the white masters. This ideology, based on a racial and gendered duality, locates humanity within the white race. It is this vision and appropriation of humanity that Morrison attacks. If humanity lies in the empowerment of the white man who engages in a violent exploitation of the non-white, driving the latter to kill her child, where does inhumanity stand?

Attentional Control and Working Memory

Attentional Control and Working Memory Attentional control and working memory over top-down, bottom-up factors Complicated activities rely on attention to selectively focus on task-relevant stimuli while overlooking salient distractive stimuli. For instance, drivers need to able to attend to oncoming traffic while simultaneously ignoring distracting stimuli such as eating, looking after children, or hearing the bell of a cellphone receive a message. Most models pertaining to the selectivity of attention suggest that our attention is biased to either stimulus-based factors (bottom-up selection) and/or goal-driven factors (top-down selection) (Theeuwes, 2010). Physically salient properties of objects that draw attention involuntarily are bottom-up factors, in contrast, past knowledge, goals, and future plans are top-down factors that automatically guide our attention (Katsuki Constantinidis, 2014). Attentional control researchers have continuously argued whether goal-driven factors or stimulus-based factors have a larger influence on attentional control. However, this assumes that attention co ntrol involves a dichotomous selection between stimulus-based factors and goal-driven factors. This is an assumption that is incorrect and does not consider attentional control research that exists beyond this dichotomic viewpoint (Vecera et al, 2014). Past theories of attention focusing on the biases between goal-driven (top-down) and physically salient stimuli (bottom-up) do not take into consideration findings that persist outside of these factors, such as, the influence of experience with distractors on future search tasks. Attentional control, using working memory of distractor experience and strong biases, is a more effective posit than the dichotomic bias between goal-driven factors and physically salient factors. Although the dichotomy of bottom-up and top-down does not account for selection biases that are not goal-related nor physically salient, it still provides a highly acceptable theory of attentional control. The first visual sweep is completely driven by stimuli (Theeuwes, 2010). Theeuwes (2010) claims that the most physically salient item drives attention during the first visual scan, it is not until later in time that visual selection is biased in a top-down manner. This top-down manner involves feedback processing and voluntary control based on willful plans and current goals. Theeuwes (1992) found that when looking for a circle among diamonds of all the same color, the response time was a lot slower when one of the diamonds was red. Their study demonstrated that salience has an impact on visual attentional control. Goal driven selection matches targets that most fit the observers goal template. For example, when at the supermarket, if the goal is to buy a red apple, the observer wi ll prioritize red items. Overall, the bottom-up and top-down model offers a much more simplistic approach to attention and is one that can be easily accepted due to its lack of complexity in reasoning. For instance, it is easy to comprehend that items that pop out are more likely to grab attention, as well as, current selection goals of the on looker. However, this theory suggests that irrelevant items are not learned and cannot be used in future search tasks. Both stimulus-based and goal-driven factors influence attentional control, however, researchers have recently started to notice the impact experience has on the selective nature of attention (Awh et al., 2012). For example, participants point out noticeable, color targets quickly if the target-color is repeated throughout subsequent trials (Maljkovic Nakayama, 1994). They found that even when observers have a strong stimulus-based bias towards the target, experience strengthens this bias. Accordingly, priming of pop out of targets in repeated trials demonstrates the ability of experience to change the efficiency and overall efficacy of attentional control (Lee, Mozer, Vecera, 2009). These findings further support the idea that experience can influence attentional control, an idea that is not supported by bottom-up and top-down theories. In contrast to research done in favor of bottom-up, top-down posits, one memory system that falls in favor of experience and attentional control is priming of pop out (PoP). PoP occurs when individuals can point out a target faster if the essential feature of that target is constant in subsequent trials (Maljkovic Nakayama, 1994). In their study, they had their participants look for a colored diamond and had them identify if the diamond had a feature missing from either side. They found that PoP helped individuals and increased their response times. Their findings suggest that by continually showing a targets defining features, it reinforces the selective bias towards that targets features. In a similar vein, Tulving and Schacter (1990) found that representation systems based on perception allow for perceptual priming to occur. These representation system process new information in short-term memory. This short-term memory hastens the processing of similar information in future task s. Thus, when the visual information sweep frequently encounters similar items to process, these items are processed in a faster manner because short-term memory already has a memory trace of that item. Priming of pop out further demonstrates how learned experience with physically salient items benefits subsequent search tasks. It demonstrates that passive priming can provoke strong selection biases that have nothing to do with goal-driven selection. The bottom-up, top-down attentional control model does not consider these findings. Large amounts of research on attentional selection cannot be accounted for by the tendency to group attentional control in either top-down or bottom-up factors (Awh et al., 2012), for example, memory. There are two types of memory that have different roles and first need to be distinguished. Visual working memory depictions are different from visual long-term memories (VLTM). Visual working memory depictions are held for a limited amount of time, while visual long-term depictions continue throughout time (Luck, 2008). The constant maintenance of information limits the length of time for which visual working memory (VWM) depictions are upheld in memory. Lastly, VWM can only hold three to four items at the same time, while VLTM depictions are not bounded to a specific amount of objects (Brady et al., 2008). Although VWM is important in memory, VWM, in regards to attentional control, is specifically important for building experience with distractor rejections, but, is not useful for fut ure use. Visual long term memory (VLTM) uses information (information that is no longer relevant to the task) encoded in the past to guide attention (Fan Turk-Browne, 2016). In their first experiment, Fan and Turk-Browne (2016) found that VLTM for the associated location of a target guided spatial attention during visual search for the target, even when this location was not relevant to the task. Their second experiment expanded on these findings by discovering that VLTM for the associated color of a target influenced attentional capture in a different task. Memories can guide attention toward associated features, even when these features were encoded incidentally and were never relevant to any task (Fan Turk-Browne, 2016). An items features are automatically retrieved from long-term memory based on environmental cues encoded into working memory. These working memory representations bias selection toward items perceived in the world that match with features in memory through react ivation. An example of this would be shopping at a supermarket frequently gone to. When shopping at the local supermarket looking for your favorite cereal, for example, you are less likely to be distracted by other grocery items because you know where youre going and do not have to scan the visual area as often as opposed to it being the first time at that specific store. Observers find targets more easily when knowledge is given beforehand concerning the physical features of the target, like location, identity, and color (Moher Egeth, 2012). This is a process known as visual cueing. Observers find targets more easily, when they are told beforehand, not to look at certain irrelevant areas of the display areas that will not have any targets pop up. For example, an individual is more often than not to find their friend at a mall if told that their friend will be wearing a bright yellow shirt. In the same manner, Woodman and Luck (2007) found that targets were located faster if distractor items that were in the color that had to be ignored were present versus the distractors not being there at all. They concluded that participants used a template for rejection wherein items that match any beforehand features that had to be ignored, could be avoided during search, thus, items possessing the feature that had to be ignored were quickly rejected, ultimatel y, minimizing the size of the search. Knowing what not to look for reduces the number of items needed to be scanned, inadvertently reducing the time it takes to search through items. Further extending current research on the theory that individuals can use cues to bias attention away from salient distractors, individuals need experience with distractors before the distractors can actually be ignored (Cunningham Egeth, 2016). Experience with irrelevant stimuli can improve search in tasks. Learning to ignore features can result in a benefit in search tasks because time spent learning about these features, that need to be ignored, enhances its ability to be used by individuals in future search tasks (Cunningham Egeth, 2016). Results from their experiment found that within the same task, observers only benefited from cues that were consistent and not by cues that changed trial by trial. This demonstrates that cues can only be beneficial in search tasks if the cues are repeatedly shown ; developing a more concrete trace in long term memory in which participants can use. The mentioned studies establish that memory is an important part of the attentional selection process. The concept of memory cannot be put into a category that is either stimulus-driven or goal-driven, but rather makes its own valid case in the plethora of selection phenomena. Biased competition proposes that attentional control mechanisms occur when several neuronal axons land in the same receptive vicinity (Desimone Duncan, 1995). They found that when several stimuli fall into one receptive field, a neuron has multiple choices as to which of these stimuli it should respond to; this is quite an uncertain process. However, attentional mechanisms solve this uncertainty through two processes: attention is biased towards matching target objects with templates held in VWM. And, attention is biased towards items that are physically salient. Objects that are held in VWM are preferred over objects that are not because cells that have the objects features show higher rates of activity (Miller Desimone, 1994). Features of items in the external world are represented by these cells held in VWM, thus, the higher the activation rate, the more probable these neurons are to reach supra-threshold and fire an action potential when an external item matches that of the ite m in working memory. In support of experience and attentional control, biased competition reveals that past experience directs learning towards novel characteristics in settings and plays an important role forming the long-term memory system (Hutchinson et al., 2016). Frequent studies of attention have looked at task-related goals and its effect on memory encoding, but not much research has investigated the role of memory guiding itself during selection (Awh et al., 2012). According to Hutchinson et al. (2016), memory allows for the brain to differentiate between old information (information in which the individual has already encountered) and new information that will give the best representation of the surroundings. Thus, in circumstances that involve both the presence of old and new information, old information will affect how new information is processed and interpreted. Biased competition further supports that experience has an effect on what enters the memory system, which then, subsequently affect s the attentional systems use of templates in the prioritization of certain items. Cases that cannot be explained by the traditional dichotomy of attentional control can be further expanded by reward control. Although attentional selection can be voluntary, in the case of goal-driven tasks, subsequent selection can be provoked be rewards. Hickey et al. (2010) had participants look for a diamond shape while also ignoring irrelevant color stimuli at the same time. Participants were given a low or a high monetary reward depending on whether they answered right. The researchers found that rewards could bias attentional selection to either the target or to the irrelevant stimuli trial after trial.ÂÂ   For instance, if the target color stayed the same on subsequent trials, participants had a fast response time after given a high monetary reward. However, when the distractor had the same color as the previous target, reaction times were slow after given a high monetary reward. This study suggests that monetary reward influenced attention towards the color that was gi ven the high reward, irrespective of whether the color was associated with the distractor or the target. Several studies have shown that attentional selection is biased towards monetary reward. These findings cannot be explained by the voluntary, top-down or the physically salient, bottom-up attentional control dichotomy. Monetary reward further demonstrates that the dichotomic posit of attentional control is one that is incomplete and that monetary reward only expands on the present findings related to selection phenomena. Rewards are one of the strong biases that have a significant influence on selective processes. When encountering physically noticeable distractors, the experiences built on these distractors allows individuals to focus in future search tasks. This finding reveals that experience with physically noticeable distractors, and not only target templates held in working memory, benefits the high functionality of attentional control. Like further posits of attentional controls dependence on experience, learning to reject irrelevant stimuli depends on visual long term memory. This is an acceptable finding to grasp because long term memory possesses the ability to direct attention to target items in the present and later on, and, away from distractors. This finding further validates that attentional control cannot be explained by purely using the dichotomy of goal-driven and physically-salient-driven efforts. Rather, attentional control is an active process founded on creating experience with specific objects. Consequently, attentional control is a skill that is increasingly sharpened a s we gain experience out in the world. By not having much experience, the skills used in controlling attention is rather basic and depends on the simple use of the physical noticeability of object features. However, as individuals experience increases with certain tasks, the skills involved in attentional control sharpens and focuses on specific features. Once our attention is focused on a specific set of features, top-down control of attention can operate more efficiently. The importance of attentional control can be further seen in everyday life, especially in the realm of mental health. Several findings have found that there is a high correlation between those who suffer with mental illnesses and levels of attentional control. Individuals who have Alzheimers disease, for example, have trouble maintaining goal-directedness (Coubard, et al., 2011). They found that Alzheimers disease affects the ability of switching attention, suppressing, and preparing attention for random events. Further, individuals who suffer from schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a fast response time in tasks when levels of anxiety and depression are lessened (Sarter and Paolone, 2011). Emotional processing is an important of human interaction and communication. Low attentional control would hinder the ability to shift attention away from potentially threating information which would increase ones susceptibility of developing harmful psychological effects (Fergus et al., 2012). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is another mental illness that is also affected by attentional control. Individuals with PTSD and low attentional control show attentional avoidance (Schoorl et al., 2014). Attentional avoidance is the concept of biasing attention away from threatening situations. These threatening situations serve as triggers that remind individuals with PTSD of the traumatic events they have experienced. This cognitive avoidance can be dysfunctional becaus e individuals with PTSD do not face threatening stimuli head on and avoid it, which, deprive them of the chance to realize that the traumatic event will not occur again (Schoorl et al., 2014). This was only the case when post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were high and attention control levels were low. Works Cited Awh, E., Belopolsky, A. V., Theeuwes, J. (2012). Top-down versus bottom-up attentional control: A failed theoretical dichotomy. Trends In Cognitive Sciences, 16(8), 437-443. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.06.010 Brady, T.F., Konkle, T., Alvarez, G.A., Oliva, A. (2008). Visual long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(38), 14325-14329. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803390105 Cunningham, C. A., Egeth, H. E. (2016). Taming the white bear: Initial costs and eventual benefits of distractor inhibition. Psychological Science, 27(4), 476-485. doi:10.1177/0956797615626564 Coubard, O. A., Ferrufino, L., Boura, M., Gripon, A., Renaud, M., Bherer, L. (2011). Attentional control in normal aging and Alzheimers disease. Neuropsychology, 25(3), 353-367. doi:10.1037/a0022058 Desimone, R., Duncan, J. (1995). Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, 18(1), 193-222. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ne.18.0030195.001205 Fan, J. E., Turk-Browne, N. B. (2016). Incidental biasing of attention from visual long-term memory. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, And Cognition, 42(6), 970-977. doi:10.1037/xlm0000209 Fergus, T. A., Bardeen, J. R., Orcutt, H. K. (2012). Attentional control moderates the relationship between activation of the cognitive attentional syndrome and symptoms of psychopathology. Personality And Individual Differences, 53(3), 213-217. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.03.017 Hickey, C., Chelazzi, L., Theeuwes, J. (2010). Reward Changes Salience in Human Vision via the Anterior Cingulate. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(33), 11096-11103. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1026-10.2010 Hutchinson, J. B., Pak, S. S., Turk-Browne, N. B. (2016). Biased competition during long- term memory formation. Journal Of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(1), 187-197. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00889 Katsuki, F., Constantinidis, C. (2014). Bottom-up and top-down attention: Different processes and overlapping neural systems. The Neuroscientist, 20(5), 509-521. doi:10.1177/1073858413514136 Lee, H., Mozer, M.C., Vecera, S.P. (2009). Mechanisms of priming of pop-out: Stored representations or feature-gain modulations? Attention, Perception, Psychophysics, 71(5), 1059-1071. doi: 10.3758/APP.71.5.1059 Luck, S.J. (2008). Visual short-term memory. In S.J. Luck A. Hollingworth (Eds.), Visual Memory (pp. 43-85). New York: Oxford University Press. Maljkovic, V., Nakayama, K. (1994). Priming of pop-out: I. Role of features. Memory Cognition, 22(6), 657-72. doi: 10.3758/BF03209251 Miller, E.K., Desimone, R. (1994). Parallel neuronal mechanisms for short-term memory. Science, 263((5146), 520-522. doi: 10.1126/science.8290960 Moher, J., Egeth, H.E. (2012). The ignoring paradox: Cueing distractor features leads first to selection, then to inhibition of to-be-ignored items. Attention, Perception, Psychophysics, 74(8), 1590-1605. doi: 10.3758/s13414-012-0358-0 Sarter, M., Paolone, G. (2011). Deficits in attentional control: Cholinergic mechanisms and circuitry-based treatment approaches. Behavioral Neuroscience, 125(6), 825-835. doi:10.1037/a0026227 Schoorl, M., Putman, P., Van Der Werff, S., Van Der Does, A. W. (2014). Attentional bias and attentional control in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal Of Anxiety Disorders, 28(2), 203-210. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.10.001 Theeuwes, J. (1992). Perceptual selectivity for color and form. Perception Psychophysics, 51(6), 599-606. doi:10.3758/BF03211656 Theeuwes, J. (2010). Top-down and bottom-up control of visual selection. Acta Psychologica, 135(2), 77-99. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.02.006 Tulving, E., Schacter, D.L. (1990). Priming and human memory systems. Science, 247(4940), 301-306. doi: 10.1126/science.2296719 Vecera, S. P., Cosman, J. D., Vatterott, D. B., Roper, Z. J. (2014). The control of visual attention: Toward a unified account. In B. H. Ross, B. H. Ross (Eds.) , The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 60 (pp. 303-347). San Diego, CA, US: Elsevier Academic Press. Vogel, E.K., Woodman, G.F., Luck, S.J. (2006). The time course of consolidation in visual working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,32(6), 1436-1451. doi: 10.1037/0096-1523.32.6.1436

Essay example --

Shakespeare’s play ‘Taming of the Shrew’ was written between the years 1590 and 1592 and is categorized as a comedy, mainly for its comedic elements of playfulness and disguises. It has been criticised for its elements of misogyny that have caused controversy; distracting many from its comedic nature. Hodgdon maintains that the play has sparked remarkable angst from its Elizabethan patriarchal power structure which seamlessly no longer ties with modern cultural gender ideology. Elizabethan women were made to be obedient to their husbands and never intervene with the outside world known as the man’s world. Knox quoted â€Å"To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature† suggesting the limitation of women in society. Katherina challenges these values by appearing the exact opposite of a traditional 16th century woman as she is hot-tempered, sharp-tongued and rebellious until she meets her match. Audiences observe an excessive amount of dramatic comedy in the form of farce in Act 2. Kate and Petruchio can be argued to be devised as extreme characters to perform comedic functions, hence shouldn't be taken sincerely. It is possible to execute this comedy in a way that brings out its farcical construction. Katherina and Petruchio engage in a lengthy battle of wit. Katherina refers to Petruchio as ‘a joint stool’, in which Petruchio retaliates with ‘come sit on me’. Their remarks are exaggerated thus only continuing to build sexual tension, as Petruchio counters Katharina with sexual innuendos. Shrewish women were often described as crabs. In using the term: 'I see a crab', Katherina positions Petruchio on a corresponding level with herself. A crab apple is a sour... ...ates'. These two lines portray Petruchio's scheme: he seeks 'one rich enough to be' his wife, and is convinced he will make Kate conform with his standards for a wife. Petruchio emphasis through the repetitiveness of Kate's name within the structure, endorses his authority: he has the ability to conform Kate. There is demonstration of male superiority throughout the rest of the play, portraying injustice in equality. During Act 2 Kate is shrewish but soon as she marries; her character traits begin to wither away, making her fit the role of women in Shakespearean time. Shakespeare could have intended to show the injustice of the role of women in Shakespearean times, implying that even the strong fall weak. He uses the play to mock society's norms but does have to come to a conclusion to show Katherina as vulnerable like any other women were portrayed at that the time

Abortions and Mens Rights Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Men Essay

Abortions and Men's Rights Are you a man? Have you ever dealt with the issue of losing or being in the process of losing a child in which you took part in making? It’s difficult to truthfully answer these questions if you’re not a man and if you haven’t experienced abortion first hand. January 22, 1973 marked the beginning of a moral and political revolution in this country that would forever change many lives 1. The landmark decision ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court to legalize abortion with unrestricted procedures would profoundly affect women and men’s lives. But the American society forgot half of the population that would be traumatized by this experience, just because they were men. Throughout the limited information available on this topic it was clearly evident that men do suffer both emotional and physical symptoms due to a personal abortion. Abortion is considered an inhuman procedure according to pro-life activists, but if it’s the only option a female is willing to take to correct a mistake then it’s a decision that needs to involve both sides that created the â€Å"problem.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the decision comes down to abortion, where are the rights of the father? The way the law functions is that the father has no legal say in what happens to his unborn child. He is denied any rights to defend his child he cannot say one word about the continued existence of his child in the womb. The Supreme Court’s decision literally stripped the father of all his parental rights regarding his own flesh and blood during the first nine months of his son or daughter’s life. Only at birth can he engage in the child’s life and have full rights along with obligations granted to him. How is it that the courts paved the way for women to dispose of a fetus if they want to with nothing stopping them because it’s their body? Yet the men that helped create this new being has no say in what could or should happen with the life of the unborn! As many as 600,000 males annually, from all walks of life â€Å"do time† in the waiting rooms of t he nation’s five hundred or so abortion clinics 2. They are expected to sit and wait until it’s okay to visit their significant other in the recovery room or time to leave. And no one ever thinks ‘how does he feel about the abortion’?’ or ‘was there a factor that motivated him to take part in this decision?’   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How does that waiting... ... be debilitating his life. Many men return to, or discovered his religious faith. Allowing him to bring a sense of joy and knowing he has complete, divine forgiveness. Whatever positive approach the male takes to curing his broken heart it will make a difference in the years to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Abortion is a far greater dilemma for men than researchers, counselors- and women- have even begun to realize. Men of all ethnic backgrounds, ages, and socioeconomic levels have trouble dealing with abortion- and sometimes more trouble than women have. Unable to bear children themselves and powerless to prevent their partners from terminating a pregnancy, men who care are the silent sufferers, bewildered and frustrated by their emotional responses†¦9.† The whole process that takes place in order to abort a baby is life changing and should be dealt with honest and intelligent feelings. A women and man should communicate on the matter and decide what is best for the both of them. It took to conceive it should take two to decide the future of the unborn and that of the adults involved. â€Å"A fertile women can decide to have a baby almost anytime she wants. A man cannot 10.† He needs to be involved.

Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

Alzheimers Disease   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is Alzheimers Disease? The most common form of dementing illness, Alzheimers Disease (AD) is a progressive, degenerative disease that attacks the brain, causing impaired memory, thinking and behavior. The person with AD may experience confusion, personality and behavior changes, impaired judgment, and difficulty finding words, finishing thoughts or following directions. It eventually leaves its victims incapable of caring for themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What happens to the brain in Alzheimers Disease? In AD The nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls memory, thinking, are damaged, interrupting the passage of messages between cells. The cells develop distinctive changes that are called neuritic plaques (clusters of degenerating nerve cell ends) and neurofibrillary tangles (masses of twisted filaments which accumulate in previously health nerve cells). The cortex (thinking center) of the brain shrinks (atrophies), The spaces in the center of the brain become enlarged, also reducing surface area in the brain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What are the symptoms of Alzheimers Disease? Alzheimers Disease is a dementing illness which leads to loss of intellectual capacity. Symptoms usually occur in older adults (although people in their 40s and 5Os may also be affected) and include loss of language skills such as trouble finding words, problems with abstract thinking, poor or decreased judgment, disori...

Intrinsic and Extrinsic barriers Essay

Good morning to one and all of you present, my task for today is to enlighten you about what Inclusive Education is and what intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to learning and development are. One of the many challenges facing education in post-apartheid South Africa is that of realising the constitutional values of equality, freedom from discrimination and the right to a basic education for all learners, including those who experience barriers to learning. Under apartheid, learners were not only educated separately according to race, but a separate special education system served those learners with disabilities or impairments. To address this and bring educational practice in South Africa into line with the international trend of including learners, who experience barriers to learning, in general or mainstream classes, South Africa has enacted legislation and formulated policy which establishes an inclusive education system. Inclusion is broadly understood as the process by which learners who previously might have been taught in a separate special education system, because of the barriers to learning they experience, would now be taught in regular schools that have taken the responsibility of changing and improving to provide the support necessary to facilitate access and participation. What is Inclusive Education? Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their neighborhood schools in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of the life of the school. Inclusive education is about how we develop and design our schools, classrooms, programs and activities so that all students learn and participate together. Neighborhood schools are the heart of our communities, and Inclusion BC believes they are essential for a quality inclusive education system. Therefore we believe it is important to support a public education system in B.C. Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational needs. The Department of Basic Education is committed towards the building of an Inclusive Education system at all levels as outlined in Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education System, 2001. Such an inclusive system will facilitate the inclusion of vulnerable learners  and reduce the barriers to learning, through targeted support structures and mechanisms that will improve the retention of learners in the education system, particularly learners who are prone to dropping out. Benefits of Inclusive Education All children benefit from inclusive education. It allows them to: Develop individual strengths and gifts, with high and appropriate expectations for each child. Work on individual goals while participating in the life of the classroom with other students their own age. Involve their parents in their education and in the activities of their local schools. Foster a school culture of respect and belonging. Inclusive education provides opportunities to learn about and accept individual differences, lessening the impact of harassment and bullying. Develop friendships with a wide variety of other children, each with their own individual needs and abilities. Positively affect both their school and community to appreciate diversity and inclusion on a broader level. Why is Inclusive Education Important? It’s important because as South Africans, we value our diverse communities. These communities start at school, where all students learn to live alongside peers. They learn together; they play together; they grow and are nurtured together. Is inclusive education for everybody? The simple answer is YES. However, individual needs may mean that some students need to spend time out of regular class for a particular purpose. There are always exceptions, but they are in fact EXCEPTIONS: if needed, they are individualized in the student’s community school. What should I expect? You can expect the school to provide a plan to support teachers and students through good inclusive practices —like collaboration, team work, innovative instructional practices, peer-strategies, and more. ************************************************************************************* We now move on to the Second part of the discussion what intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to learning and development are? Barriers to learning  acknowledges that educational difficulties may arise from a number of sources, and may be intrinsic or extrinsic to learners. What is Intrinsic Barriers? Intrinsic barriers include physical, sensory, and neurological and developmental impairments, chronic illness, psycho-social disturbances and differing intellectual ability. What is Extrinsic Barriers? Extrinsic barriers are those factors that arise outside the learner, but impact on his or her learning. They may arise from the family and its cultural, social and economic context and include lack of parental involvement in education and family problems like divorce, death, and violence. Schools themselves may constitute barriers to learning when learners’ mother tongue is not used for teaching and learning and when schools are not safe. Therefore learners will experience barriers differently depending on the family of which they are a part, the extent to which their schools facilitate access and participation and the resources in the communities and societies in which they live. Support for learners who experience barriers to learning can be understood as all those actions that increase schools’ capacity for responding to diversity Inclusive practice is an important component of support and refers to strategies adopted, technical support provided, structures and procedures applied and actions carried out in the pursuit of including learners who experience barriers to learning. A focus on inclusive practice, while not denying the importance of inclusive culture and policy, ensures that attention is given to what is actually happening in schools, rather than wishful thinking or rhetoric about inclusion. Intrinsic factors – born with problem -physical/physiological impairments that may become disabilities if society and the system of education do not make provision for these learners (impairments, genetic factors, brain damage) -personality factors, especially types of temperament and unsatisfied emotional needs Extrinsic factors – problem not in learners self but in circumstances they grow up in -Environment – unfavourable socioeconomic circumstances, urban areas (apartments, little supervision), rural environments (poor school attendance), prosperous areas (bored, drugs, pressure) -Education – poor teaching (lack of qualifications, unmotivated or lazy), incomplete participation on the part of learners, inappropriate study material, inefficient school organisation, crowded classrooms -Language – many learners taught in English (not home language), often the teachers can’t speak proper English either. They perform poorly due to a lack of understanding -Culture – need to accommodate diff cultures, we learn, think and do things differently – keep that in mind (religion, language, food, sense of humour) -Job prospects – many learners leave schools but there is no jobs available so they get depressed and discouraged = underachieve at school To conclude Schools of a variety of classroom practices that acknowledge the diversity among learners and differentiate according to individual learning suggests that these practices should be encouraged in inclusive classrooms. In these ways, schools can learn from one another and can increase their repertoire of strategies that enable support, address barriers to learning and provide quality education for their learners. Thank you.