Search

Background and Objectives: Meditation practices have been marketed broadly to ameliorate human suffering. As such, individuals may seek out and use meditation to control or manage unpleasant thoughts and emotions. Emotion and thought control research suggest that meditation used in this way may potentiate unpleasant private experiences and contribute to negative outcomes. We aimed to evaluate the function or purpose guiding meditation and its relations with anxiety, depression, and other indices of well‐being. Design and Methods: In a cross‐sectional design, undergraduate meditators (N = 98) reported intentions guiding their meditation practice (i.e., experiential/emotional control or acceptance/openness) and completed an assessment battery. Results: Most participants (58.2%) indicated using meditation to manage, control, or avoid difficult experiences. Participants using meditation with control‐based intentions reported greater worry, anxiety, depression, negative affect, and lower mindfulness relative to their acceptance‐guided counterparts. After controlling for level of anxiety, viewing anxiety as a problem increased the likelihood of using meditation with control‐based intentions. Similar relations were observed between viewing stress as a problem and the likelihood of using meditation for experiential control. Conclusions: Findings suggest that (a) how people meditate is significantly related to psychological distress and (b) highlight the importance of evaluating intentions guiding meditative practices, particularly in individuals struggling with unpleasant emotional or psychological experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Pedagogicos (Valdivia) is the property of Estudios Pedagogicos 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.)

Reinforcement-learning (RL)-based brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) interpret dynamic neural activity into movement intention without patients’ real limb movements, which is promising for clinical applications. A movement task generally requires the subjects to reach the target within one step and rewards the subjects instantaneously. However, a real BMI scenario involves tasks that require multiple steps, during which sensory feedback is provided to indicate the status of the prosthesis, and the reward is only given at the end of the trial. Actually, subjects internally evaluate the sensory feedback to adjust motor activity. Existing RL-BMI tasks have not fully utilized the internal evaluation from the brain upon the sensory feedback to guide the decoder training, and there lacks an effective tool to assign credit for the multi-step decoding task. We propose first to extract intermediate guidance from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to assist the learning of multi-step decoding in an RL framework. To effectively explore the neural-action mapping in a large state-action space, a temporal difference (TD) method is incorporated into quantized attention-gated kernel reinforcement learning (QAGKRL) to assign the credit over the temporal sequence of movement, but also discriminate spatially in the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS). We test our approach on the data collected from the primary motor cortex (M1) and the mPFC of rats when they brain control the cursor to reach the target within multiple steps. Compared with the models which only utilize the final reward, the intermediate evaluation interpreted from the mPFC can help improve the prediction accuracy by 10.9% on average across subjects, with faster convergence and more stability. Moreover, our proposed algorithm further increases 18.2% decoding accuracy compared with existing TD-RL methods. The results reveal the possibility of achieving better multi-step decoding performance for more complicated BMI tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We meta‐analytically examined correlations between task‐based and self‐report thought control measures as well as potential moderators. Results of a frequentist meta‐analysis indicate that the two measures do not overlap, r =.07, 95% CI [−0.01;0.15] (k = 20; N = 1194); subgroup analyses for different self‐report measures r =.12; 95% CI [−0.06;0.30] and r =.03, 95% CI [−0.05;0.11], respectively. Additionally, we found no evidence for the presence of moderators. To further test whether the identified effect size is more consistent with a null effect or the assumption of a positive association, robust Bayesian meta‐analyses were conducted. We did not obtain sufficiently strong evidence to decide for or against a null effect. In sum, our findings suggest that task‐based and self‐report thought control measures might capture different psychological processes and thus call for more research on the different underlying processes and constructs they measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives/background: Insomnia in adolescence is common and debilitating yet it remains poorly understood. Here, we examine the complexity of clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial factors characterizing insomnia in adolescents.Methods: Ninety-five adolescents (16-19 years) with (N = 47, 31 female) and without (N = 48, 28 female) insomnia symptoms participated. In the insomnia group, 26 (20 female) met full DSM-5 criteria for insomnia disorder, while 21 (11 female) met partial criteria. Participants completed a clinical interview and assessments of clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial dimensions associated with insomnia. GLMs and network analyses were used to evaluate group and sex differences in severity and inter-relationships between symptoms.Results: Adolescents with insomnia symptomatology had lower sleep hygiene and thought control, more depressive symptoms and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions, and more substance use as a coping behavior than healthy controls. They also indicated higher neuroticism, stress levels, and sleep stress reactivity (p < 0.05), but no difference in adverse childhood experiences, than controls. Girls compared to boys with insomnia reported lower sleep quality, and more pre-sleep cognitive activity and sleep stress reactivity (p < 0.05). Compared to healthy girls, girls in the insomnia group reported lower sleep hygiene and higher agreeableness. Network analyses confirmed profound group differences in network topology, with the insomnia group having different levels of centrality and relationships between clinical characteristics compared with controls.Conclusions: Findings highlight clinical and sex-specific characteristics of adolescent insomnia, with network analyses revealing a complex interplay between clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial domains. Adolescents with insomnia symptoms, particularly girls, may benefit from interventions to improve negative cognition, mood, and stress, and behavioral strategies to counteract sleep-related maladaptive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that the Internet is, and is acting as, an EA because it shapes our belief systems, our worldviews. We explain key concepts for this discussion and provide illustrative examples to support our claims. Furthermore, we explain why recognising the Internet as an EA is important for Internet users and society in general. We discuss several ways in which the Internet influences the choices, beliefs, and attitudes of its users, and we compare this effect with those of psychological conditioning and brainwashing techniques. Finally, we present examples where the Internet’s epistemic agency acts at scale, affecting large portions of society rather than individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we reason that the ability to keep unwanted thoughts and intrusions at bay – thought control ability – might explain part of the relationship between trait self-control and positive psychological outcomes. We predict that the ability to keep unwanted thoughts at bay causes people high in trait self-control to report higher subjective well-being (Study 1), and makes them to be more likely to cope with stressful life events in an adaptive rather than maladaptive manner (Study 2). Two cross-sectional studies among healthy individuals were conducted (Study 1 n = 284; 70% female; Mage = 22.15 years; Study 2 n = 210, 65.7% female, Mage = 28.07) in which trait self-control, thought control ability, subjective well-being (study 1), and coping styles (study 2) were measured. Additionally, we investigated the mediating role of thought control ability and the conditional effect of gender on this mediation. The results of Study 1 indicate that trait self-control is positively related to subjective well-being. Moreover, thought control ability fully mediated the relationship between trait self-control and subjective well-being, and this effect was particularly strong for women. In Study 2, trait self-control was positively associated with adaptive forms of coping, but negatively with maladaptive coping. Moreover, thought control ability partially mediated the relationship between trait self-control and both types of coping, with stronger results for women than for men. These results suggest that trait self-control affects positive life outcomes in part through an ability to keep unwanted thoughts at bay, thereby facilitating a focus on goal pursuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dimsdale presents real concerns on how modern states lie to their citizens and religious movements commit crimes. Dinsdale duly notes that the APA reviewers dismissed the report, which summarized the theory of brainwashing as applied to "cults", as "hysterical ramblings" and "a sensationalist explanation" of conversion to new religious movements (p. 209). When scholars of new religious movements, including the undersigned, come across a book on brainwashing written by somebody who does not belong to their group, they are immediately suspicious. [Extracted from the article]

Loudspeakers are devices that create sound, controlling the interaction between a permanent magnet and an electromagnet induced by a varying electric current in a coil. The physics behind loudspeakers makes them popular educational resources to discuss the principles of electromagnetism and the generation of sound waves. This same idea also applies to electric motors and generators. In this work, we combine electric motors and loudspeakers to build a set of headphones, which are presented to preservice primary school teachers as a "mind control helmet," to demonstrate the basic ideas of electromagnetism and sound physics, but also the nature of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging in modern societies is often associated with various diseases including metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. In recent years, researchers have shown that both dysfunctions are related to each other. Although the relationship is not fully understood, recent evidence indicate that metabolic control plays a determinant role in neural defects onset. Indeed, energy balance dysregulation affects neuroenergetics by altering energy supply and thus neuronal activity. Consistently, different diets to help control body weight, blood glucose or insulin sensitivity are also effective in improving neurodegenerative disorders, dampening symptoms, or decreasing the risk of disease onset. Moreover, adapted nutritional recommendations improve learning, memory, and mood in healthy subjects as well. Interestingly, adjusted carbohydrate content of meals is the most efficient for both brain function and metabolic regulation improvement. Notably, documented neurological disorders impacted by specific diets suggest that the processes involved are inflammation, mitochondrial function and redox balance as well as ATP production. Interestingly, processes involving inflammation, mitochondrial function and redox balance as well as ATP production are also described in brain regulation of energy homeostasis. Therefore, it is likely that changes in brain function induced by diets can affect brain control of energy homeostasis and other brain functions such as memory, anxiety, social behavior, or motor skills. Moreover, a defect in energy supply could participate to the development of neurodegenerative disorders. Among the possible processes involved, the role of ketone bodies metabolism, neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, oxidative stress and inflammation or epigenetic regulations as well as gut-brain axis and SCFA have been proposed in the literature. Therefore, the goal of this review is to provide hints about how nutritional studies could help to better understand the tight relationship between metabolic balance, brain activity and aging. Altogether, diets that help maintaining a metabolic balance could be key to both maintain energy homeostasis and prevent neurological disorders, thus contributing to promote healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nuclear bile acid (BA) receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a major regulator of metabolic/energy homeostasis in peripheral organs. Indeed, enterohepatic-expressed FXR controls metabolic processes (BA, glucose and lipid metabolism, fat mass, body weight). The central nervous system (CNS) regulates energy homeostasis in close interaction with peripheral organs. While FXR has been reported to be expressed in the brain, its function has not been studied so far. We studied the role of FXR in brain control of energy homeostasis by treating wild-type and FXR-deficient mice by intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection with the reference FXR agonist GW4064. Here we show that pharmacological activation of brain FXR modifies energy homeostasis by affecting brown adipose tissue (BAT) function. Brain FXR activation decreases the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine synthesis, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and consequently the sympathetic tone. FXR activation acts by inhibiting hypothalamic PKA-CREB induction of TH expression. These findings identify a function of brain FXR in the control of energy homeostasis and shed new light on the complex control of energy homeostasis by BA through FXR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of outcomes for patients with locally recurrent brain metastases treated with a repeat course of stereotactic radiosurgery (rSRS). Method: Primary outcomes were 1-year local control(LC) and radionecrosis (RN). Secondary outcomes were 1-year overall survival (OS) and 1-year distant brain control (DBC). Weighted random effects meta-analyses utilizing the DerSimonian and Laird methods were conducted to characterize summary effect sizes. Mixed effects regression models were utilized to analyze potential correlations between prognostic factors and outcomes. Results: In total, 347 patients with 462 brain metastases treated with rSRS were included. Estimated 1-year LC, OS, and DBC rates were 69.0% (95% CI: 61.0-77.0%), 49.7% (95% CI: 28.9-70.6%), and 41.6% (95% CI: 33.0-50.4%), respectively. The estimated RN rate was 16.1% (95% CI: 6.3-25.9%). Every 1 Gy increase in prescription dose was estimated to result in roughly 5% increase in 1-year LC (p = 0.14). Conclusions: rSRS was well-tolerated with reasonable 1-year LC and OS. Dose escalation may result in improved LC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, only a few studies have examined whether and when stressed individuals are still prosocially motivated and willing to help others, which is in contrast to the relevance and importance that helping others has for our society. The present study investigates the impact of affective and biopsychological acute stress responses on prosociality (prosocial motivation, helping behavior) under controlled laboratory conditions. In addition, it was examined whether this relationship is affected by individuals' current life stress and the cognitive ability to keep stress-related thoughts at bay. To induce acute stress responses (heart rate, negative affect, salivary alpha-amylase, cortisol), 55 individuals (28 women, M-24 years old, SD-4.53) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Current life stress (cortisol) was assessed over two days of participants' everyday lives. Thought control ability was assessed with the think/no-think paradigm and was additionally manipulated after the acute stress intervention (TSST) via instructions. The results showed that acute stress was positively associated with prosociality. Specifically, negative affect was positively related to prosocial motivation and salivary alpha-amylase was positively associated with helping behavior. Current life stress moderated the relationship between salivary cortisol and helping behavior: the association was positive at low levels of current life stress. The instruction to control one's thoughts but not participants' general ability to do so reduced stress responses (negative affect). In sum, the findings suggest that prosociality increases following acute stress and that this effect depends on the level of current life stress. Additionally, adopting the strategy of controlling stress-related thoughts was found to be promising for attenuating individuals' stress responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the process of reparenting using transactional analysis. The author explores the controversial history of reparenting as practiced by Jacqui Schiff, beginning in 1965 when she and her husband began taking young people with schizophrenia into their home. Schiff experienced these youngsters as "childlike" and in desperate need of looking after. She was aware that she engaged in practices that might outrage conventional psychotherapists, and when confronted by her colleagues, she moved location several times in order to carry on her work. The article tracks critics of Schiff and the Cathexis model, including some who consider reparenting to be brainwashing and Cathexis to be a cult. The author and several members of the TA community share their personal experience of reparenting and/or training with Schiff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The phenomenon of metacognition is instrumental in the conceptualization and management of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Studies on the comparison between metacognitions in OCD patients and healthy controls or those with other clinical conditions have been conducted. We aimed to compare metacognitions among currently symptomatic OCD (S-OCD) patients, currently remitted OCD patients (R-OCD), and healthy controls (HC). Method: This cross-sectional research was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital in North India. Purposive sampling method was used to recruit 40 OCD patients, including an equal number of R-OCD and S-OCD patients, and 20 HC matched for age and education. Meta-Cognition Questionnaire and Thought Control Questionnaire were used to assess metacognitive functions. Results: The findings showed a gradient of highest maladaptive metacognitions in the S-OCD group and lowest in HC. In the OCD subgroups, specific metacognitive beliefs (negative beliefs F = 65.52; need to control thoughts F = 61.03) and strategies (worry F = 83.55; low distraction F = 105.61) remained significantly different (P ≤ 0.001) between S-OCD and R-OCD patients. Certain other metacognitions remained consistently more or less stable between S-OCD and R-OCD patients, that is, metacognitive beliefs (cognitive confidence F = 11.43; cognitive self-consciousness F = 37.12) and strategies (punishment F = 17.45; low social control F = 12.89). This finding is further corroborated by positive correlations of severity of OCD with need to control thoughts (r = 0.66, P < 0.001), negative beliefs (r = 0.63, P < 0.001), and worry (r = 0.76, P < 0.001), and negative correlations with distraction (r = – 0.79, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The study provides preliminary evidence for specific metacognitions distinguished as potential state and trait markers for OCD, which needs to be established on a larger sample using a longitudinal study design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, hypnosis has been a central feature in descriptions of the process of behavior and attitude change that occurs in high-demand groups (HDGs, or cults). Cult specialist and mental-health counselor Steven Hassan (1989, 2000, 2014) has talked and written extensively about this process. In August 2000, Dr. Arthur Dole chaired a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) entitled Can Hypnosis Explain Cult Conversion? Evidence From Science and Practice, which included a number of experts in the field (Dole et. al., 2000). In contrast to the premise suggested by these references, Spanish psychologist Jose Fernández Aguado (2015), in a provocative article entitled "Psychological Manipulation, Hypnosis, and Suggestion," questioned the ability of hypnosis to induce people to engage in behaviors in ways they would not otherwise execute "out of" hypnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bio-grafía. Escritos Sobre la Biología y su Enseñanza is the property of Universidad Pedaggica Nacional 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.)

The study aimed to identify the level of Meta Cognition thinking and its relationship to dominant patterns of brain dominance among Jordanian university students, and to identify if there were differences in the level of Meta Cognition thinking and brain dominance patterns attributed to variables of gender and college. The study sample consisted male and female students at the academic year 2020/2021, and this sample was taken in a simple random way. Two measures were applied: Meta Cognition thinking, and brain dominance patterns, after confirming their psychometric properties. The results showed that the level of Meta Cognition thinking among Jordanian university students is (high), and that the dominant brain pattern among the study sample is the right pattern, followed by the left and then the integrated, and also there is no statistically significant relationship between the brain dominance patterns and the variables of gender and college, and there is statistically significant differences in Meta Cognition thinking among students with the (left) brain dominance pattern compared to those with the (integrated) brain control pattern and in favor of those with the left brain dominance type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: After a diagnosis of infertility, an increasing number of couples turns to the Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) to achieve a pregnancy. A diagnosis of infertility has a negative impact on the individual's well-being and it can increase the risk of anxious-depressive symptoms, stress, and low self-esteem. Data associated with infertility-related Quality of Life (QoL) are lacking in men. Little is known about men's experience of infertility and its treatments during the pandemic. Among the variables potentially associated with infertility-related QoL, the role of obsessive beliefs is neglected, although preliminary studies considered perfectionistic traits. Method: One hundred and fifty-one participants were included. Eighty men (mean age: 40.83 years) were attending a MAR pathway. Of these, 50 men (67.5%) were undergoing homologous MAR and 30 men (37.5%) were undergoing heterologous MAR. A control group consisting of 71 subjects (mean age: 36.69 years), paired by age, marital status, and number of children, was drawn from the general population. The Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-46, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-20, and the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire were administered. Results: High levels of anxiety, depression and stress were moderately associated with lower infertility-related Quality of Life. For men undergoing homologous MAR, perfectionism beliefs represented a vulnerability factor for a lower fertility-related QoL, while for men undergoing heterologous MAR, high thought control beliefs represented a risk factor for a lower fertility-related QoL. Conclusions: A focus on the obsessive beliefs should be included in the psychological treatment of infertile men, specifically perfectionism in homologous MAR and control of thoughts in heterologous MAR. Therefore, psychological assessment and support interventions should be personalized according to the MAR pathway and be focused on men's cognitive features in order to improve their QoL during the MAR pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of psychedelics in the collective rituals of numerous indigenous groups suggests that these substances are powerful catalysts of social affiliation, enculturation, and belief transmission. This feature has recently been highlighted as part of the renewed interest in psychedelics in Euro-American societies, and seen as a previously underestimated vector of their therapeutic properties. The property of psychedelics to increase feelings of collective belonging and transmission of specific cultural values or beliefs raise, however, complex ethical questions in the context of the globalization of these substances. In the past decades, this property has been perceived as problematic by anticult movements and public authorities of some European countries, claiming that these substances could be used for "mental manipulation." Despite the fact that this notion has been widely criticized by the scientific community, alternative perspectives on how psychedelic experience supports enculturation and social affiliation have been yet little explored. Beyond the political issues that underlie it, the re-emergence of the concept of "psychedelic brainwashing" can then be read as the consequence of the fact that the dynamic through which psychedelic experience supports persuasion is still poorly understood. Beyond the unscientific and politically controversed notion of brainwashing, how to think the role of psychedelics in the dynamics of transmission of belief and its ethical stakes? Drawing on data collected in a shamanic center in the Peruvian Amazon, this article addresses this question through an ethnographic case-study. Proposing the state of hypersuggestibility induced by psychedelics as the main factor making the substances powerful tools for belief transmission, I show that it is also paradoxically in its capacity to produce doubt, ambivalence, and reflexivity that psychedelics support enculturation. I argue that, far from the brainwashing model, this dynamic is giving a central place to the agency of the recipient, showing that it is ultimately on the recipient's efforts to test the object of belief through an experiential verification process that the dynamic of psychedelic enculturation relies on. Finally, I explore the permanence and the conditions of sustainability of the social affiliation emerging from these practices and outline the ethical stakes of these observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars from various disciplines discuss the ethical, legal, and social implications of neurotechnology. Some have proposed four concrete "neurorights". This review presents the research of two pioneers in brain stimulation from the 1950s to 1970s, José M. R. Delgado and Elliot S. Valenstein, who also reflected upon the ethical, legal, and social aspects of their and other scientists' related research. Delgado even formulated the vision "toward a psychocivilized society" where brain stimulation is used to control, in particular, citizens' aggressive and violent behavior. Valenstein, by contrast, believed that the brain is not organized in such a way to allow the control or even removal of only negative processes without at the same time diminishing desirable ones. The paper also describes how animal and human experimentation on brain stimulation was carried out in that time period. It concludes with a contemporary perspective on the relevance of neurotechnology for neuroethics, neurolaw, and neurorights, including two recent examples for brain-computer interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of Cultural Studies / Roczniki Kulturoznawcze is the property of John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Cultural Studies 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.)

The current study is a critical discourse analysis of the various themes presented in Trump's and Clinton's Second Presidential Debate 2016. It also investigates the various strategies used by the candidates to gain support from their fellow Americans. Controlling manipulative and dehumanising discourse, as well as situational rhetoric and more refined conversational strategies such as using "us" as a positive representation and "them" as a negative representation, are all components of effective communication. The metaphorical structures are used to bolster anti-immigrant and fearful sentiments, as well as to strip people of their humanity in order to make them unworthy of self-esteem. Critical discourse analysis examines not only the linguistic elements of discourse but also the context in which it is delivered. The results show that the candidates help to replicate idea manipulation by emphasising positive selfrepresentation of "us" and negative other presentations of "them" as a form of audience mind control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of psychedelics in the collective rituals of numerous indigenous groups suggests that these substances are powerful catalysts of social affiliation, enculturation, and belief transmission. This feature has recently been highlighted as part of the renewed interest in psychedelics in Euro-American societies, and seen as a previously underestimated vector of their therapeutic properties. The property of psychedelics to increase feelings of collective belonging and transmission of specific cultural values or beliefs raise, however, complex ethical questions in the context of the globalization of these substances. In the past decades, this property has been perceived as problematic by anticult movements and public authorities of some European countries, claiming that these substances could be used for “mental manipulation.” Despite the fact that this notion has been widely criticized by the scientific community, alternative perspectives on how psychedelic experience supports enculturation and social affiliation have been yet little explored. Beyond the political issues that underlie it, the re-emergence of the concept of “psychedelic brainwashing” can then be read as the consequence of the fact that the dynamic through which psychedelic experience supports persuasion is still poorly understood. Beyond the unscientific and politically controversed notion of brainwashing, how to think the role of psychedelics in the dynamics of transmission of belief and its ethical stakes? Drawing on data collected in a shamanic center in the Peruvian Amazon, this article addresses this question through an ethnographic case-study. Proposing the state of hypersuggestibility induced by psychedelics as the main factor making the substances powerful tools for belief transmission, I show that it is also paradoxically in its capacity to produce doubt, ambivalence, and reflexivity that psychedelics support enculturation. I argue that, far from the brainwashing model, this dynamic is giving a central place to the agency of the recipient, showing that it is ultimately on the recipient’s efforts to test the object of belief through an experiential verification process that the dynamic of psychedelic enculturation relies on. Finally, I explore the permanence and the conditions of sustainability of the social affiliation emerging from these practices and outline the ethical stakes of these observations.

Single session stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone for brain metastases larger than 2 cm in diameter results in unsatisfactory local control. Surgical resection alone also produces unreliable local control and perioperative radiation is required. We conducted a prospective phase I trial (NCT01891318) for brain metastases greater than 2 cm to determine the safety of preoperative SRS at escalating doses followed by surgical resection. Radiosurgery dose started at RTOG 9005 dose levels for the 3 cohorts based on maximum tumor diameter of the index lesion: 18 Gy for >2-3 cm, 15 Gy for >3-4 cm, and 12 Gy >4-6 cm. Concurrent SRS alone to other smaller lesions was allowed using standard RTOG dose. Dose limiting toxicity (DLT) was defined as grade 3 or greater acute toxicity within 3 to 4 months after SRS. Patients underwent surgical resection within 2 weeks and were followed with imaging and neurological evaluations every 3 months. A total of 35 patients were enrolled into the trial (see Table 1 below). The median age was 63, and median interval between SRS and surgery was 2 days. The most common histology was non-small cell lung cancer (57.1%), followed by breast cancer (14.3%). For tumor size >2-3 cm, patients were enrolled up to the 2nd dose level (21 Gy); for >3-4 cm and >4-6 cm cohorts the 3rd dose level (21 Gy and 18 Gy, respectively) was reached. There was a total of 3 DLTs: 2 in the >3-4 cm cohort and 1 in the >4-6 cm cohort (Table 1). The maximum tolerable dose (MTD) was 18 Gy (2nd dose level) for >3-4 cm, and 18 Gy (3rd dose level) for >4-6 cm. With a median follow-up of 64 months, the 6- and 12-month local control rates were 88.8% and 79.1%, respectively. The 6- and 12-month distant brain control was 63.1% and 55.3%, respectively. Overall survival at 6 and 12 months was 82.9% and 59.0%. The rate of leptomeningeal disease (LMD) at 2 years was 0%. Preoperative SRS with dose escalation followed by surgical resection for brain metastases greater than 2 cm in size results in local control comparable to postoperative SRS or whole-brain radiation therapy and demonstrates acceptable acute toxicity. The Phase II portion of the trial will be conducted at the maximum tolerated SRS doses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]