Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) refers to the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are supposedly based on psychology and are considered credible and accepted by the wider populace. The concept is cognate with the human potential movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The term pop psychologist can be used to describe authors,
consultants, lecturers, and entertainers who are widely perceived as
being psychologists, not because of their academic credentials, but
because they have projected that image or have been perceived in that
way in response to their work.
The term popular psychology can also be used when referring to the popular psychology industry, a sprawling network of everyday sources of information about human behavior.
The term is often used in a pejorative fashion to describe
psychological concepts that appear oversimplified, out of date,
unproven, misunderstood or misinterpreted; however, the term may also be
used to describe professionally produced psychological knowledge,
regarded by most experts as valid and effective, that is intended for
use by the general public.
Popular psychology is an essential ingredient of the self-help industry.
According to Fried and Schultis, criteria for a good self-help
book include "claims made by the author as to the book's efficacy, the
presentation of problem-solving strategies based on scientific evidence
and professional experience, the author's credentials and professional
experience, and the inclusion of a bibliography."
Three potential dangers of self-help books are:
people may falsely label themselves as psychologically disturbed;
people may misdiagnose themselves and use material that deals with the wrong problem;
people may not be able to evaluate a program and may select an ineffective one;
The misuse and overuse of technical psychological terms is called psychobabble.
Sometimes psychological jargon is used to dress up sales pitches, self-help programs, and New Age
ideas to lend these endeavors a respectable scientific appearance.
Other times, people use psychological terminology to describe everyday,
normal experiences in a way that pathologize a normal behavior, such as feeling sad after a loss, by suggesting that unpleasant emotions are a type of psychopathology, like major depressive disorder.
People may use psychobabble because they believe that complex,
descriptive or special esoteric terms more clearly or more dramatically
communicate their experiences of social and personal situations, or
because they believe that it makes them sound more educated.
Early movements in the history of American psychology can explain the importance our culture places on the field at large.
Rise of psychology in the United States
Beginning late in the 19th century, and largely influenced by German scholar Wilhelm Wundt, Americans including James Mckeen Cattell, G. Stanley Hall, William James,
and others helped to formalize psychology as an academic discipline in
the United States. Popularity in psychology grew as the public became
more aware of the field. In 1890, James published The Principles of Psychology, which produced a surge of public interest. In 1892, James wrote Psychology: The Briefer Course as an opportunity for the public to read and understand psychological literature. In a similar attempt in 1895, E. W. Scripture, another American psychologist, published a book, called Thinking, Feeling, Doing, that was adapted for the average reader.
Popular misconceptions and the effort to counteract
Despite
the various publications, the general public had minimal understanding
of what psychologists did and what psychology was all about. Many
believed psychology was "mind reading and spiritualism"
and that it had no real application in everyday life. Whereas, in
reality, psychology was more about studying normal human behaviors and
experiences that could very well have strong applications to everyday
life.
Thus, regardless of the mass interest in psychology, an accurate account of psychology for the layman was rare. Many psychologists became concerned that their profession was failing appropriately to reach the public.
In 1893, Joseph Jastrow and Hugo Münsterberg led a public exhibit on psychology in the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago as an effort to celebrate psychology, offer information to
the public, and correct popular misconceptions. The exhibit provided
catalogs of information on equipment, research topics, and purposes of
psychology. In a similar attempt to inform the public, the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis included (among others) presentations from G. Stanley Hall, Edward B. Titchener, Mary Whiton Calkins, John B. Watson, and Adolph Meyer. The exhibits also included public testing and experimentation.
Although admirable, the attempt to seek public approval failed to
make a significant impact and psychologists became more concerned about
their public image. In 1900, Jastrow wrote a book entitled Fact and Fable in Psychology
that aimed to resolve popular psychological misconceptions by clearly
discerning fact from fable. In preface to his book, Jastrow states, "It
is a matter of serious concern that the methods of genuine psychology,
that the conditions of advance in psychology, that the scope and nature
of its problems should be properly understood."
Popularization of psychology
It was not until the more powerful movement of applied psychology that popularity in psychology grew to affect people's everyday lives. The work of G. Stanley Hall in educational psychology led changes in the approaches of teaching and the Child-Study movement, supported in experimental psychology, and guided educational reform.
Several critics
warned that applying experimental psychology to education may be
problematic. In 1898, Münsterberg wrote a controversial article entitled
"The Danger from Experimental Psychology" in which he claims the
impossible transfer of experimental results into successful teaching
practices.
The media
provided the public more accessible psychological information through
the publication of countless books and popular magazines including Harpers, Forum, Atlantic Monthly, and Colliers.
After WWI, demand grew for a more frequent source of popular psychology
and newspapers became a primary source of public information. In fact,
newspaper columns were so well-received that professional psychologist
Jastrow had a column entitled Keeping Mentally Fit that appeared in more than 150 newspapers in the 1920s.
Soon, public demand for psychological services and information
grew so fierce that the availability of legitimate research and real
psychologists became insufficient. Consequently, nonprofessionals began
to offer their services under the guise of psychologists.
The American Psychological Association
(APA) responded with an effort to establish official certifications for
trained psychologists. However, popular interest overlooked the
qualifications and eagerly sought to apply popular psychological science
regardless of its validity.
Short-lived, the excitement over useful psychology was curbed by
articles warning of the exaggerated and false claims made by popular
psychology. Stephen Leacock described the changing popularity in psychology in 1924, stating,
As part of the new researches, it was found that psychology can be
used... for almost everything in life. There is now not only psychology
in the academic or college sense, but also a Psychology of Business,
Psychology of Education, a Psychology of Salesmanship, a Psychology of
Religion... and a Psychology of Playing the Banjo. In short, everybody
has his.
Others authored similar cautions to the public and, among the most recursive, was that of Grace Adams (psychologist) who, in her 1928 article, wrote
a vociferous attack on applied psychology [and] argued that
psychology had forsaken its scientific roots so that individual
psychologists might achieve popularity and prosperity.
After the Depression
hit in 1929, popular literature began to decline while scientific
publications in periodicals increased. This discrepancy between the
public sector and academia
supported the popular belief that professional psychologists were not
interested in solving America's problems. The lack of professional
participation provided pseudoscientific
and unprofessional psychological literature to become very popular. In
the 1930s, self-help books and the publication of three magazines (Modern Psychologist, Practical Psychology Monthly, and Psychology Digest) became part of a popular psychology movement.
World War II
gave professional psychology another chance to prove its value as a
science with an increase in professional opportunities. In the article
"Don't They Understand Us? A history of Psychology's Public Image",
Benjamin describes the direction of psychology at the time:
The praise psychologists received from government, industry, and the
military provided a tremendous boost for the public image of
psychology... Yet many contemporary psychologists are concerned that the
current image is far from acceptable and that the science and
profession of psychology continues to suffer because of that image.
Current status of popular psychology
In his Presidential Address to the APA in 1969, George Armitage Miller
was hopeful for psychology's future stating, "that the real impact of
psychology will be felt, ... through its effects on the public at large,
through a new and different public conception of what is humanly
possible and what is humanly desirable."
Current events influence the popularity of areas in psychology.
During 2020 and 2021 many of the most popular psychology articles were
about COVID-19 and even Zoom fatigue. The APA's most downloaded journal articles frequently include research about social media. Social media frequently spreads misinformation about health, and this could extend to mental health misinformation. Psychobabble
can be used on social media to spread this misinformation. However,
social media can be a place where pop psychology is used to spread
mental health awareness.
Limits and criticism
A June 2023 article by Vox Media
explored the limits of pop psychology terms ("therapy speak") saying
"people become attached to terms that encapsulate certain events and
people, to varying degrees, in order to bolster an argument or justify
an experience. Having common language to describe a difficult situation
can help people more effectively communicate their concerns and garner
support, but these terms can just as easily be weaponized."
Visual object recognition refers to the ability to identify
the objects in view based on visual input. One important signature of
visual object recognition is "object invariance", or the ability to
identify objects across changes in the detailed context in which objects
are viewed, including changes in illumination, object pose, and
background context.
Basic stages of object recognition
Neuropsychological evidence affirms that there are four specific stages identified in the process of object recognition. These stages are:
Stage 1 Processing of basic object components, such as color, depth, and form.
Stage 2 These basic components are then grouped on the basis
of similarity, providing information on distinct edges to the visual
form. Subsequently, figure-ground segregation is able to take place.
Stage 3 The visual representation is matched with structural descriptions in memory.
Stage 4 Semantic attributes are applied to the visual representation, providing meaning, and thereby recognition.
Within these stages, there are more specific processes that take
place to complete the different processing components. In addition,
other existing models have proposed integrative hierarchies (top-down
and bottom-up), as well as parallel processing, as opposed to this
general bottom-up hierarchy.
Hierarchical recognition processing
Visual
recognition processing is typically viewed as a bottom-up hierarchy in
which information is processed sequentially with increasing
complexities. During this process, lower-level cortical processors, such
as the primary visual cortex, are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Higher-level cortical processors, such as the inferotemporal cortex (IT), are at the top, where visual recognition is facilitated. A highly recognized bottom-up hierarchical theory is James DiCarlo's Untangling description
whereby each stage of the hierarchically arranged ventral visual
pathway performs operations to gradually transform object
representations into an easily extractable format. In contrast, an
increasingly popular recognition processing theory, is that of top-down
processing. One model, proposed by Moshe Bar
(2003), describes a "shortcut" method in which early visual inputs are
sent, partially analyzed, from the early visual cortex to the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Possible interpretations of the crude visual input is generated in the PFC and then sent to the inferotemporal cortex
(IT) subsequently activating relevant object representations which are
then incorporated into the slower, bottom-up process. This "shortcut"
is meant to minimize the number of object representations required for
matching thereby facilitating object recognition.
Lesion studies have supported this proposal with findings of slower
response times for individuals with PFC lesions, suggesting use of only
the bottom-up processing.
Object constancy and theories of object recognition
"Object constancy" redirects here. For the understanding that objects still exist when not perceived, see object permanence.
A significant aspect of object recognition is that of object
constancy: the ability to recognize an object across varying viewing
conditions. These varying conditions include object orientation,
lighting, and object variability (size, color, and other within-category
differences). For the visual system to achieve object constancy, it
must be able to extract a commonality in the object description across
different viewpoints and the retinal descriptions.[9] Participants who
did categorization and recognition tasks while undergoing a functional
magnetic found as increased blood flow indicating activation in specific
regions of the brain. The categorization task consisted of participants
placing objects from canonical or unusual views as either indoor or
outdoor objects. The recognition task occurs by presenting the
participants with images that they had viewed previously. Half of these
images were in the same orientation as previously shown, while the other
half were presented in the opposing viewpoint. The brain regions
implicated in mental rotation, such as the ventral and dorsal visual
pathways and the prefrontal cortex, showed the greatest increase in
blood flow during these tasks, demonstrating that they are critical for
the ability to view objects from multiple angles.
Several theories have been generated to provide insight on how object
constancy may be achieved for the purpose of object recognition
including, viewpoint-invariant, viewpoint-dependent and multiple views
theories.
Viewpoint-invariant theories
Viewpoint-invariant
theories suggest that object recognition is based on structural
information, such as individual parts, allowing for recognition to take
place regardless of the object's viewpoint. Accordingly, recognition is
possible from any viewpoint as individual parts of an object can be
rotated to fit any particular view.
This form of analytical recognition requires little memory as only
structural parts need to be encoded, which can produce multiple object
representations through the interrelations of these parts and mental
rotation.
Participants in a study were presented with one encoding view from each
of 24 preselected objects, as well as five filler images. Objects were
then represented in the central visual field at either the same
orientation or a different orientation than the original image. Then
participants were asked to name if the same or different depth-
orientation views of these objects presented.
The same procedure was then executed when presenting the images to the
left or right visual field. Viewpoint-dependent priming was observed
when test views were presented directly to the right hemisphere, but not
when test views were presented directly to the left hemisphere. The
results support the model that objects are stored in a manner that is
viewpoint dependent because the results did not depend on whether the
same or a different set of parts could be recovered from the
different-orientation views.
3-D model representation
This
model, proposed by Marr and Nishihara (1978), states that object
recognition is achieved by matching 3-D model representations obtained
from the visual object with 3-D model representations stored in memory
as vertical shape precepts.
Through the use of computer programs and algorithms, Yi Yungfeng (2009)
was able to demonstrate the ability for the human brain to mentally
construct 3D images using only the 2D images that appear on the retina.
Their model also demonstrates a high degree of shape constancy conserved
between 2D images, which allow the 3D image to be recognized.
The 3-D model representations obtained from the object are formed by
first identifying the concavities of the object, which separate the
stimulus into individual parts. Recent research suggests that an area of
the brain, known as the caudal intraparietal area (CIP), is responsible
for storing the slant and tilt of a plan surface that allow for
concavity recognition.
Rosenburg et al. implanted monkeys with a scleral search coil for
monitoring eye position while simultaneously recording single neuron
activation from neurons within the CIP. During the experiment, monkeys
sat 30 cm away from an LCD screen that displayed the visual stimuli.
Binocular disparity cues were displayed on the screen by rendering
stimuli as green-red anaglyphs and the slant-tilt curves ranged from 0
to 330. A single trial consisted of a fixation point and then the
presentation of a stimulus for 1 second. Neuron activation were then
recorded using the surgically inserted micro electrodes. These single
neuron activation for specific concavities of objects lead to the
discovery that each axis of an individual part of an object containing
concavity are found in memory stores.
Identifying the principal axis of the object assists in the
normalization process via mental rotation that is required because only
the canonical description of the object is stored in memory. Recognition
is acquired when the observed object viewpoint is mentally rotated to
match the stored canonical description.
Figure
1. This image, created based on Biederman's (1987) Recognition by
Components theory, is an example of how objects can be broken down into
Geons.
Recognition by components
An extension of Marr and Nishihara's model, the recognition-by-components theory,
proposed by Biederman (1987), proposes that the visual information
gained from an object is divided into simple geometric components, such
as blocks and cylinders, also known as "geons"
(geometric ions), and are then matched with the most similar object
representation that is stored in memory to provide the object's
identification (see Figure 1).
Viewpoint-dependent theories
Viewpoint-dependent
theories suggest that object recognition is affected by the viewpoint
at which it is seen, implying that objects seen in novel viewpoints
reduce the accuracy and speed of object identification.
This theory of recognition is based on a more holistic system rather
than by parts, suggesting that objects are stored in memory with
multiple viewpoints and angles. This form of recognition requires a lot
of memory as each viewpoint must be stored. Accuracy of recognition also
depends on how familiar the observed viewpoint of the object is.
Multiple views theory
This
theory proposes that object recognition lies on a viewpoint continuum
where each viewpoint is recruited for different types of recognition. At
one extreme of this continuum, viewpoint-dependent mechanisms are used
for within-category discriminations, while at the other extreme,
viewpoint-invariant mechanisms are used for the categorization of
objects.
Neural substrates
The Dorsal Stream is shown in green and the Ventral Stream in purple.
The dorsal and ventral stream
The visual processing of objects in the brain can be divided into two processing pathways: the dorsal stream (how/where), which extends from the visual cortex to the parietal lobes, and ventral stream (what), which extends from the visual cortex to the inferotemporal cortex
(IT). The existence of these two separate visual processing pathways
was first proposed by Ungerleider and Mishkin (1982) who, based on their
lesion studies, suggested that the dorsal stream is involved in the processing of visual spatial information, such as object localization (where), and the ventral stream is involved in the processing of visual object identification information (what).
Since this initial proposal, it has been alternatively suggested that
the dorsal pathway should be known as the 'How' pathway as the visual
spatial information processed here provides us with information about
how to interact with objects, For the purpose of object recognition, the neural focus is on the ventral stream.
Functional specialization in the ventral stream
Within
the ventral stream, various regions of proposed functional
specialization have been observed in functional imaging studies. The
brain regions most consistently found to display functional
specialization are the fusiform face area (FFA), which shows increased activation for faces when compared with objects, the parahippocampal place area (PPA) for scenes vs. objects, the extrastriate body area
(EBA) for body parts vs. objects, MT+/V5 for moving stimuli vs. static
stimuli, and the Lateral Occipital Complex (LOC) for discernible shapes
vs. scrambled stimuli. (See also: Neural processing for individual categories of objects)
Structural processing: the lateral occipital complex
The
lateral occipital complex (LOC) has been found to be particularly
important for object recognition at the perceptual structural level. In
an event-related [fMRI-en] study that looked at the adaptation of
neurons activated in visual processing of objects, it was discovered
that the similarity of an object's shape is necessary for subsequent
adaptation in the LOC, but specific object features such as edges and
contours are not. This suggests that activation in the LOC represents
higher-level object shape information and not simple object features.
In a related [fMRI-en] study, the activation of the LOC, which occurred
regardless of the presented object's visual cues such as motion,
texture, or luminance contrasts, suggests that the different low-level
visual cues used to define an object converge in "object-related areas"
to assist in the perception and recognition process.
None of the mentioned higher-level object shape information seems to
provide any [semantic-en] information about the object as the LOC shows a
neuronal response to varying forms including non-familiar, abstract
objects.
Further experiments have proposed that the LOC consists of a
hierarchical system for shape selectivity indicating greater selective
activation in the posterior regions for fragments of objects whereas the [anterior-en] regions show greater activation for full or partial objects.
This is consistent with previous research that suggests a hierarchical
representation in the ventral temporal cortex where primary feature
processing occurs in the posterior regions and the integration of these features into a whole and meaningful object occurs in the [anterior-en] regions.
Semantic Processing
Semantic
associations allow for faster object recognition. When an object has
previously been associated with some sort of semantic meaning, people
are more prone to correctly identify the object. Research has shown that
semantic associations allow for a much quicker recognition of an
object, even when the object is being viewed at varying angles. When
objects are viewed at increasingly deviated angles from the traditional
plane of view, objects that held learned semantic associations had lower
response times compared to objects that did not hold any learned
semantic associations.
Thus, when object recognition becomes increasingly difficult, semantic
associations allow recognition to be much easier. Similarly, a subject
can be primed to recognize an object by observing an action that is
simply related to the target object. This shows that objects have a set
of sensory, motor and semantic associations that allow a person to
correctly recognize an object. This supports the claim that the brain utilizes multiple parts when trying to accurately identify an object.
Through information provided from [neuropsychological-en]
patients, dissociation of recognition processing have been identified
between structural and [semantic-en] processing as structural, colour,
and associative information can be selectively impaired. In one PET study, areas found to be involved in associative semantic processing include the left anterior superior/middle temporal gyrus and the left temporal pole comparative to structural and colour information, as well as the right temporal pole comparative to colour decision tasks only.
These results indicate that stored perceptual knowledge and semantic
knowledge involve separate cortical regions in object recognition as
well as indicating that there are hemispheric differences in the
temporal regions.
Research has also provided evidence which indicates that visual
semantic information converges in the fusiform gyri of the
inferotemporal lobes. In a study that compared the semantic knowledge of
category
versus attributes, it was found that they play separate roles in how
they contribute to recognition. For categorical comparisons, the lateral
regions of the fusiform gyrus
were activated by living objects, in comparison to nonliving objects
which activated the medial regions. For attribute comparisons, it was
found that the right fusiform gyrus was activated by global form, in
comparison to local details which activated the left fusiform gyrus.
These results suggest that the type of object category determines which
region of the fusiform gyrus is activated for processing semantic
recognition, whereas the attributes of an object determines the
activation in either the left or right fusiform gyrus depending on
whether global form or local detail is processed.
In addition, it has been proposed that activation in [anterior-en] regions of the fusiform gyri indicate successful recognition.
However, levels of activation have been found to depend on the semantic
relevance of the object. The term semantic relevance here refers to "a
measure of the contribution of semantic features to the core meaning of a concept." Results showed that objects with high semantic relevance, such as artefacts, created an increase in activation compared to objects with low semantic relevance, such as natural objects.
This is due to the proposed increased difficulty to distinguish between
natural objects as they have very similar structural properties which
makes them harder to identify in comparison to artefacts. Therefore, the easier the object is to identify, the more likely it will be successfully recognized.
Another condition that affects successful object recognition performance is that of contextual facilitation.
It is thought that during tasks of object recognition, an object is
accompanied by a "context frame", which offers semantic information
about the object's typical context.
It has been found that when an object is out of context, object
recognition performance is hindered with slower response times and
greater inaccuracies in comparison to recognition tasks when an object
was in an appropriate context.
Based on results from a study using [fMRI-en], it has been proposed
that there is a "context network" in the brain for contextually
associated objects with activity largely found in the Parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and the Retrosplenial Complex (RSC). Within the PHC, activity in the Parahippocampal Place Area
(PPA), has been found to be preferential to scenes rather than objects;
however, it has been suggested that activity in the PHC for solitary
objects in tasks of contextual facilitation may be due to subsequent
thought of the spatial scene in which the object is contextually
represented. Further experimenting found that activation was found for
both non-spatial and spatial contexts in the PHC, although activation
from non-spatial contexts was limited to the [anterior-en] PHC and the posterior PHC for spatial contexts.
Recognition memory
When someone sees an object, they know what the object is because they've seen it on a past occasion; this is recognition memory.
Not only do abnormalities to the ventral (what) stream of the visual
pathway affect our ability to recognize an object but also the way in
which an object is presented to us. One notable characteristic of visual
recognition memory is its remarkable capacity: even after seeing
thousands of images on single trials, humans perform at high accuracy in
subsequent memory tests and they remember considerable detail about the
images that they have seen.
Context
Context
allows for a much greater accuracy in object recognition. When an
identifiable object is blurred, the accuracy of recognition is much
greater when the object is placed in a familiar context. In addition to
this, even an unfamiliar context allows for more accurate object
recognition compared to the object being shown in isolation.
This can be attributed to the fact that objects are typically seen in
some setting rather than no setting at all. When the setting the object
is in is familiar to the viewer, it becomes much easier to determine
what the object is. Though context is not required to correctly
recognize, it is part of the association that one makes with a certain
object.
Context becomes especially important when recognizing faces or
emotions. When facial emotions are presented without any context, the
ability to which someone is able to accurately describe the emotion
being shown is significantly lower than when context is given. This
phenomenon remains true across all age groups and cultures, signifying
that context is essential in accurately identifying facial emotion for
all individuals.
Familiarity
Familiarity
is a mechanism that is context-free in the sense that what one
recognizes just feels familiar without spending time trying to find in
what context one knows the object.
The ventro-lateral region of the frontal lobe is involved in memory
encoding during incidental learning and then later maintaining and
retrieving semantic memories.
Familiarity can induce perceptual processes different from those of
unfamiliar objects which means that our perception of a finite number of
familiar objects is unique. Deviations from typical viewpoints and contexts can affect the efficiency for which an object is recognized most effectively.
It was found that not only are familiar objects recognized more
efficiently when viewed from a familiar viewpoint opposed to an
unfamiliar one, but also this principle applies to novel objects. This
deduces to the thought that representations of objects in
our brain are organized in more of a familiar fashion of the objects
observed in the environment. Recognition is not only largely driven by object shape and/or views but also by dynamic information. Familiarity can benefit the perception of dynamic point-light displays, moving objects, the sex of faces, and face recognition.
Recollection
Recollection
shares many similarities with familiarity; however, it is
context-dependent, requiring specific information from the inquired
incident.
Impairments
Loss of object recognition is called visual object agnosia. There are two broad categories of visual object agnosia:
apperceptive and associative. When object agnosia occurs from a lesion
in the dominant hemisphere, there is often a profound associated
language disturbance, including loss of word meaning.
Effects of lesions in the ventral stream
Object
recognition is a complex task and involves several different areas of
the brain – not just one. If one area is damaged then object recognition
can be impaired. The main area for object recognition takes place in
the temporal lobe. For example, it was found that lesions to the perirhinal cortex in rats causes impairments in object recognition especially with an increase in feature ambiguity.
Neonatal aspiration lesions of the amygdaloid complex in monkeys appear
to have resulted in a greater object memory loss than early hippocampal
lesions. However, in adult monkeys, the object memory impairment is
better accounted for by damage to the perirhinal and entorhinal cortex than by damage to the amygdaloid nuclei.
Combined amygdalohippocampal (A + H) lesions in rats impaired
performance on an object recognition task when the retention intervals
were increased beyond 0s and when test stimuli were repeated within a
session. Damage to the [amygdala-en] or [hippocampus-en] does not affect
object recognition, whereas A + H damage produces clear deficits.
In an object recognition task, the level of discrimination was
significantly lower in the electrolytic lesions of globus pallidus (part
of the basal ganglia)
in rats compared to the Substantia- Innominata/Ventral Pallidum which
was in turn worse compared to Control and Medial Septum/Vertical
Diagonal Band of Broca groups; however, only globus pallidus did not
discriminate between new and familiar objects. These lesions damage the ventral (what) pathway of the visual processing of objects in the brain.
Visual agnosias
Agnosia is a rare occurrence and can be the result of a stroke, dementia, head injury, brain infection, or hereditary.
Apperceptive agnosia is a deficit in object perception creating an inability to understand the significance of objects.
Similarly, associative visual agnosia is the inability to understand the significance of objects; however, this time the deficit is in semantic memory.
Both of these agnosias can affect the pathway to object recognition,
like Marr's Theory of Vision. More specifically unlike apperceptive
agnosia, associative agnosic patients are more successful at drawing,
copying, and matching tasks; however, these patients demonstrate that
they can perceive but not recognize.
Integrative agnosia(a subtype of associative agnosia) is the inability to integrate separate parts to form a whole image. With these types of agnosias there is damage to the ventral (what) stream of the visual processing pathway.
Object orientation agnosia is the inability to extract the orientation of an object despite adequate object recognition. With this type of agnosia there is damage to the dorsal (where) stream of the visual processing pathway.
This can affect object recognition in terms of familiarity and even more so in unfamiliar objects and viewpoints.
A difficulty in recognizing faces can be explained by prosopagnosia. Someone with prosopagnosia cannot identify the face but is still able to perceive age, gender, and emotional expression. The brain region that specifies in facial recognition is the fusiform face area.
Prosopagnosia can also be divided into apperceptive and associative
subtypes. Recognition of individual chairs, cars, animals can also be
impaired; therefore, these object share similar perceptual features with
the face that are recognized in the fusiform face area.
Alzheimer's disease
The
distinction between category and attribute in semantic representation
may inform our ability to assess semantic function in aging and disease
states affecting semantic memory, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because of semantic memory deficits, persons with Alzheimer's disease have difficulties recognizing objects as the semantic memory is known to be used to retrieve information for naming and categorizing objects.
In fact, it is highly debated whether the semantic memory deficit in AD
reflects the loss of semantic knowledge for particular categories and
concepts or the loss of knowledge of perceptual features and attributes.
Emotional lateralization is the asymmetrical representation of emotional control and processing in the brain. There is evidence for the lateralization of other brain functions as well.
Emotions
are complex and involve a variety of physical and cognitive responses,
many of which are not well understood. The general purpose of emotions
is to produce a specific response to a stimulus. Feelings are the
conscious perception of emotions, and when an emotion occurs frequently
or continuously this is called a mood.
A variety of scientific studies have found lateralization of emotions. FMRI and lesion
studies have shown asymmetrical activation of brain regions while
thinking of emotions, responding to extreme emotional stimuli, and
viewing emotional situations. Processing and production of facial
expressions also appear to be asymmetric in nature. Many theories of
lateralization have been proposed and some of those specific to
emotions. Please keep in mind that most of the information in this
article is theoretical and scientists are still trying to understand
emotion and emotional lateralization. Also, some of the evidence is
contradictory. Many brain regions are interconnected and the input and
output of any given region may come from and go to many different
regions.
Theories of lateralization
Right hemisphere dominance
Some variations of right hemisphere dominance are...
a) The right hemisphere has more control over emotion than left hemisphere.
b) The right hemisphere is dominant in emotional expression in a similar way that the left hemisphere is dominant in language.
c) The right hemisphere is dominant in the perception of facial expression, body posture, and prosody.
d) The right hemisphere is important for processing primary emotions
such as fear while the left hemisphere is important for preprocessing social emotions.
General lesions in the right hemisphere reduce or eliminate electrodermal response (skin conductance response ((SCR)) to emotionally meaningful stimuli while the lesions in the left hemisphere do not show changes in SCR response.
Subject SB-2046 had part of his right, prefrontal lobe
removed because of cancer. While his IQ and a majority of other normal
functions were unharmed, he had severely impaired decision-making skills
especially when he had to consider immediate vs. future reward and
punishment.
His decisions were almost always guided by immediate reward or
punishment and disregarded any long-term consequences. Researchers were
incapable of conditioning
patient SB-2046 to nonverbal stimuli containing emotional meaning
(reward or punishment), but were able to condition the patient to verbal
stimuli containing emotional meaning.
Most language production
and processing occur in the left hemisphere while the majority of the
emotional processing and production of emotion in speech occurs in the
right hemisphere. Persons with schizophrenia
usually have difficulty processing prosody. These patients also show a
remarkable increase in lateralization towards the right hemisphere of
both emotionally and non-emotional prosody rich speech.
Also, a decrease in right-handedness led to an increase in the right
hemisphere lateralization. This right hemisphere lateralization extends
beyond prosody to many of aspects of language and speech processing in
schizophrenic patients.
Complementarity specialization
The two hemispheres have a complementary specialization for control of different aspects of emotion.
Left hemisphere primarily process "positive" emotions and right
hemisphere primarily process "negative" emotions. A large portion of
regions primarily in the right hemisphere are activated during aversive classical conditioning.
While this theory seems to hold true for some emotions,
this theory is generally considered outdated; however a few examples
exist. For example, a study found that when subjects were primed with
positive stimuli before hearing a consonant, the left hemisphere was
more active than the right hemisphere. In contrast, when subjects were primed with a negative stimulus, the right hemisphere was more active than the left hemisphere.
b) Other divisions of specialization
The amygdala
plays a role in the conscious awareness of emotion (feelings) resulting
in perception of feeling, but experiments suggest the left and right
amygdala have distinct roles in conscious and unconscious processing of
emotion. The right amygdala plays a role in the nonconscious processing
of emotion while the left amygdala was involved in the processing of
conscious emotions. These results were obtained from studies that masked
conditioning stimuli. Stimuli were presented over a very short period
of time such that subjects were not consciously aware of the stimuli but
were still able to show physiological changes.
Damage to the left hemisphere in patients results in a marked increase in depression. Valence asymmetry may be due to more cholinergic and dopaminergic on the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere being more noradrenergic. Patients with right hemisphere damage had reduced arousal response to painful stimuli.
Homeostatic basis
Neuroanatomical basis for emotional lateralization
This model provides a neuroanatomical basis for emotional control and processing. The peripheral autonomic nervous system is not symmetrical. Afferent nerves
in the parasympathetic and sympathetic systems of the autonomic nervous
system differently innervate various organs that maintain homeostasis such as the heart and the face.
The asymmetrical representation of the autonomic peripheral nervous
system leads to the asymmetrical representation in the brain.
The left hemisphere is activated predominantly by homeostatic afferents
associated with parasympathetic functions and the right hemisphere is
activated predominantly by homeostatic afferents associated with
sympathetic functions. The lateralization is extremely apparent in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insular cortex
(AI) associated with higher emotions such as romantic love and
motivation correlated with homeostatic functions. The left AI and ACC
are more active during feelings of romantic love and maternal
attachment. The AI and ACC were activated on both the right and left
sides while watching pain being inflicted on a loved one while only the
right AI and ACC that is elicited during subjective feelings of pain;
this supports the association of right AI in aroused ('sympathetic')
feelings and left AI in affiliative ('parasympathetic') feelings.
Particularly, cardiovascular function appears to be lateralized
and tied to emotional stress. Intense emotional stimuli that cause
stress can lead to alterations in cardiovascular function.
The right insular cortex probably plays the most significant role in
these phenomena. Similar lateralization is probably involved in
cardiovascular malfunction in patients with head injury, stroke,
multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, meningitis and encephalitis, migraine,
cluster headache and neurosurgical procedures.
Lateralization due to lateralization of other functions
"It
is unlikely that the brain evolved an asymmetrical control of emotional
behavior. Rather, it seems more likely that although there may be some
asymmetry in the neural control of emotion, the observed asymmetries are
largely a product of the asymmetrical control of other functions such
as the control of movement, language, or the processing of complex
sensory information," Lateralization may have been evolutionarily adaptive. Lateralization may allow for a greater variety of emotions. The left temporal cortex is involved in language processing while the right temporal cortex is involved in processing faces. This lateralization is also apparent when processing emotions.
Lateralization and sex differences
There
may be a difference in cortical activation between men and women.
Activity in the right hemisphere was greater in women when exposed to
unpleasant images than men, though men showed more activation
bilaterally while viewing pleasant pictures.
Another study found that women but not men, with women had greater
activation of their right hemisphere while viewing unpleasant faces and
left hemisphere activation while viewing pleasant faces. Yet, another study found contrasting sex difference while recording EEG waves in the parietal and frontal lobes.
Negative pictures activated the left hemisphere in women more than in
men, and the right hemisphere in men more than in women when shown
unpleasant images.
Evidence of lateralization
The vast majority of the data comes from functional imaging, skin conductance response (SCR), standardized tests ranging from cognitive (e.g. IQ tests) to emotional intelligence,
and subjective questionnaires such as those rating how fearful or happy
faces look. All the tests have their strengths and weakness (see
"Limitation of Studies" below). This section primarily focuses on
results on the more subjective observations and results that have
unknown neural basis or regions.
Behavioral differences and cortical activation
70%
of right handed patients show preference in viewing emotion expressed
on the right side of the face (in the left field of view) according to
studies using chimeric faces produced using right-right or left-left mirrored faces.
The left side of the face seems more fluent in expressing emotions
which means the right cortical hemisphere is more fluent in expressing
emotions. Handedness does not appear to affect the processing associated with viewing facial expressions.
Situations that contradict moral teachings generally produce negative emotions. Watching people behave badly by breaking moral codes most significantly activates the right parahippocampal gyrus, the right medial frontal gyrus, and left amygdala.
Watching emotionally negative situations most significantly activates
the right amygdala. This study indicates that lateral processing of
emotions extends beyond the basic emotions to higher cognitive
responses.
Depression or having previously been depressed probably is due to
altered brain structure or alters brain structure. Patients who have
been depressed or are depressed show more activation to negative stimuli
in emotion.
When negative stimuli were presented to patients' right hemispheres,
the patients were significantly more accurate and quicker to respond to
the stimuli. The data in this study shows that psychological disorders
are correlated with increased lateralization.
Facial expressions of emotion
Patients with damage to their left amygdala lesions rated fearful faces less fearful than normal subjects.
Similar findings showed that regional blood flow increased in response
to fear faces while decreased to euphoric faces in the left amygdala.
Chimpanzees, other primates, and humans produce asymmetrical
facial expressions with greater expression on the left side of the face
(right hemisphere of the brain).
Researchers also subjectively reported that the left side of the face
was expressing more emotion using images of left-left chimeric faces.
Notable lateralized brain structures and regions
Emotion
is processed in many different areas of the brain, and a specific
emotion may be processed in multiple areas. Regions involved in
emotional lateralization appear to follow the general conventions that
describe the roles/functions of certain brain regions. Below are a few
regions and structure involved in emotional processing that show
functional lateralization.
Frontal lobe
Using a PET scan, researchers found that activity in the left medial and lateral prefrontal cortex
was reciprocally associated with decrease activity in the amygdala.
These findings imply that the prefrontal cortex modulates the amygdala
activity. The left prefrontal cortex plays a role in approach behaviors
(positively valenced emotions), while the amygdala plays a role in
withdrawal behaviors (negatively valenced emotions).
The superior frontal gyrus is the most significantly activated region while processing sadness.
Patients with inferior frontal lobe
damage produce less and less intense facial expression when presented
with emotional stimuli, and they also have problems reading fear and
disgust in other people. People with left inferior frontal lobe damage
produced less facial expression and could not analyze emotional
situations as well as those with right frontal lobe damage especially
with fear and disgust. The left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays an important role in anger while the right IFG plays a larger role in disgust.
Patients with dorsolateral frontal cortex lesions have difficulty discerning propositional attitude. Patients with left lesions show further increased impairment.
Parietal lobe
Damage to the inferior parietal region including the anterior (supramarginal gyrus) and posterior (angular gyrus) regions resulted in reduced SCR.
Damage to the right hemisphere in these regions resulted in a
significant (p < 0.001) decrease in SCR while the damage to the left
hemisphere of these regions did not (p > 0.05).
Temporal lobe
The right superior temporal gyrus was the most significantly activated area during the processing happiness. The right superior temporal gyrus increasingly responds to an increasingly happy stimuli, while the left pulvinar increasingly responds to increasingly fearful stimuli. The right pulvinar is activated during aversive conditioning.
Amygdala
The amygdala
plays a key role in emotional processing especially fear, and amygdala
function appears to be emotionally lateralized. When people are shown
fearful faces the left amygdala and left periamygdaloid cortex
increase in activation. There also appears to be a greater increase in
neural activity in the left amygdala corresponding to an increasingly
fearful stimulus. Recordings from single-unit electrodes in monkeys have shown similar activation in the left amygdala. A man with confined damage in the right amygdala could not produce a startle response. The activity (measured by a PET scan) in the right amygdala correlated to the number of emotionally arousing film clips capable of being recalled in patients.
Unilateral activation of the amygdala due to fearful stimuli may also produce unilateral activation of other regions. The right middle temporal gyrus, right brainstem, left hippocampus, right cerebellum, right fuisform gyrus, and left lingual gyrus
were also activated during fearful stimuli. Activation of multiple
brain regions both indicates that emotions are processed in many parts
of the brain and that emotions are complex.
The amygdala probably plays a role in the conscious processing of
emotion. The left amygdala was activated during the processing of
conscious stimuli while the right amygdala was active during the
processing of nonconscous stimuli.
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
The anterior cingulate cortex
(ACC) plays a role in a variety of functions including emotional ones.
The ACC may be important in conscious awareness of emotion.
Damage to the ACC is associated with decreased SCR to physical and
psychological stimuli. Bilateral and unilateral damage both resulted in
decreased SCR indicates that the right and left ACC's may specialized in
certain aspects of emotional response.
Anterior insula (AI)
The left anterior insula (AI) increasingly responds to increasingly fearful stimuli. The AI may also be involved in the conscious experience of emotion.
Implications
Phenomena
such as emotional lateralization may help describe how emotions arise,
persist, and alter our behavior. Understanding emotional lateralization
will help scientists understand emotion in general. Emotional
lateralization may also play a role in psychological disorders such as
depression and schizophrenia. Future treatment of psychological
disorders may have more targeted neurological treatments rather than
ingested drugs.
Symptoms that arise from confined regions of damage usually have
stereotypical emotional and behavioral changes. Diagnosis for locating
damaged regions that process emotion may aided by noticeable emotional
changes categorized under one of the lateralized emotional control
systems. Diagnosis and treatment for cardiovascular irregularities that
arises from emotions states could be aided by understanding the physical
basis of the psychological influences. Instead of treating the
cardiovascular irregularities for psychological issues, treatment could
target the lateralized brain regions.
Limitation of Studies
Like
all human based scientific experiments there are limitations to what
researchers can do. Attempting to study emotions is especially hard
since emotions are complex and can lead to subjective response. Since
the majority of experiments in emotional lateralization have been on
fear this leaves the question of whether other emotions are also
lateralized. Below are two major issues associated with many of the
experiments studying emotion that require further explanation.
Sample size
A
large percent of the human studies are of anomalies due to accidents,
tumors, or attempts to cure disease (e.g. seizures) using lesioning.
Since very few such cases exist the sample size of human studies of
emotional lateralization are generally very limited and may be as small
as single person. While these studies may provide a good insight into
certain brain regions and their functions their conclusions are not
definite. Animal studies may help in understanding this problem but
emotions in humans are generally considered more complicated than in
most animals.
Functional imaging
There are several limitations when using fMRI or PET to study emotional responses. Because fMRI measures changes in blood oxygenation, using the BOLD effect, its temporal resolution is limited by the haemodynamic response to several seconds. PET has similar limits, offering slightly better temporal resolution and slightly worse spatial resolution.
Lesioning
Lesions
rarely are localized and can affect large areas of the brain.
Processing in the brain is generally not localized and requires many
areas of the brain to process. Furthermore, lesioning may interfere with
pathways that span the lesion site. Thus, lesions are not always a good
way to determine what specific brain areas do. Therefore, a degree of
skepticism should be kept in mind when viewing lateralization data from
lesion studies.
The contralateral organization of the forebrain (Latin: contra‚ against; latus‚ side; lateral‚ sided) is the property that the hemispheres of the cerebrum and the thalamus
represent mainly the contralateral side of the body. Consequently, the
left side of the forebrain mostly represents the right side of the body,
and the right side of the brain primarily represents the left side of
the body. The contralateral organization involves both executive and
sensory functions (e.g., a left-sided brain lesion may cause a right-sided hemiplegia). The contralateral organization is only present in vertebrates.
According to the current theory, the forebrain is twisted about the long axis of the body, so that not only the left and right sides, but also dorsal and ventral sides, are interchanged.
Anatomy
Some afferent decussations.Pyramidal decussations.
Two of the cranial nerves show chiasmas: (1) the chiasm of the optic tract (i.e., cranial nerve II), which originates from the eyes and inserts on the optic tectum of the midbrain; and (2) the trochlear nerve
(i.e., cranial nerve IV), which originates in the ventral midbrain and
innervates one of the six muscles that rotate the eye (i.e., the superior oblique muscle).
Although
the forebrain of all vertebrates shows a contralateral organization,
this contralaterality is by no means complete. Some of these exceptions
are worth mentioning:
Olfaction (i.e., smelling sense) is a noteworthy exception. Each olfactory lobe connects to the ipsilateral centers of the frontal cerebrum.
In chondrichthyans (e.g., sharks and skates), the thalamus does not retrieve a branch from the optic tract but only from the contralateral optic tectum, so that the optic path decussates twice, and the forebrain represents the ipsilateral eye.
Most afferent and efferent
connections of the forebrain have bilateral components, especially
outside the primary sensory and motor regions. As a result, a hemiplegia
that is acquired at very young age can sometimes be completely
compensated over time.
According to current understanding, the contralateral organization is due to an axial twist (explained below). A number of other explanations have been published, the most popular of which is the visual map theory (explained below). A short review of existing hypotheses is given by reference. A popular-science video explains these theories in brief.
The Visual Map Theory and the Axial Twist Theory have been formulated in detail and can be regarded as scientific theories, and are explained in detail below.
Other hypotheses tend to explain specific aspects of the
phenomenon. One proposes that crossing generally provides better
geometrical mapping. According to another view, the crossing is a coincidence that has been conserved by parcellation. A third hypothesis proposes that the crossing results directly from optical inversion on the retina of the eye.
An old notion, first worked out by Jacques Loeb, is that the contralateral organisation might have an advantage for motor control,
but simulations by Valentino Braitenberg have shown that both ipsi- and contralateral connections are of major importance for control.
Further studies have asked if there is a topological
or functional advantage of the decussations.
Visual map theory by Cajal
Cajal's
schema of the visual map theory. O=Optic chiasm; C=Visual (and motor)
cortex; M, S=Decussating pathways; R, G: Sensory nerves, motor ganglia.
Social and behavior change communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SBCC by health practitionerSBCC on the Development-Entertainment spectrum.
Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), often also only "BCC" or "Communication for Development (C4D)" is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, group or community (as integrated with an overall program) to develop communication
strategies to promote positive behaviors which are appropriate to their
settings and thereby solving the world's most pressing health problems.
This in turn provides a supportive environment which will enable people
to initiate, sustain and maintain positive and desirable behavior outcomes.[1]
SBCC is the strategic use of communication to promote positive health outcomes, based on proven theories and models of behavior change.
SBCC employs a systematic process beginning with formative research and
behavior analysis, followed by communication planning, implementation,
and monitoring and evaluation. Audiences are carefully segmented,
messages and materials are pre-tested, and mass media (which include
radio, television, billboards, print material, internet), interpersonal
channels (such as client-provider interaction, group presentations) and
community mobilisation are used to achieve defined behavioral
objectives.[2]
Providing
people with information and teaching them how they should behave does
not lead to desirable change in their response/behavior. However, when
there is a supportive environment with information and communication
(teaching) then there is a desirable change in the behavior of the
target group. Thus, SBCC is proved to be an instructional intervention
which has a close interface with education and communication. It is a
strategic and group oriented form of communication to perceive a desired
change in behavior of target group.[3]
However, it is not as easy as it sounds, as there is no
one-size-fits all strategy for any intervention. Interventions are
context specific. Therefore, there is a need for proper information
management and sharing. It is advised to document and report the
interventions that worked somewhere, for example, the kind of messages,
the medium and the audience.[4]
Steps
SBCC is the comprehensive process in which one passes through the stages:
Define SBCC strategy & monitoring and evaluation plan
Develop communication products
Pretest
Implement and monitor
Evaluate
Analyze feedback and revise
Enabling factors
Behavior
change is influenced by motivation from others (external influence) as
well as from within oneself (internal influence). Internal influence
plays a significant role in creating more enjoyment of a behavior
change, instilling a sense of ownership of the new behavior, which in
turn instills a sense of ownership of the changed behavior.[6]
When designing SBCC strategies, enabling factors that affect the
outcome must be considered. The following are some of the factors:[5]
Effective communication
Enabling environment, which include policies, human rights community values and norms
User-friendly, accessible services and commodities
Theories
SBCC
has several levels at which it can be implemented. Each level includes
several theories. Each level (and each theory) employs specific
communication channels.
The SBCC Summit 2018 in Bali, Indonesia, focusing on social and behavior change communication and featuring Entertainment-Education.Over
1,200 attendees came to the 2018 SBCC Summit, where
Entertainment-Education was a main topic among Social and Behavior
Chance Communications professionals.
Strategies
SBCC
is different from the ordinary instructional method of communication
and is target specific. A society consists of many sub-groups. The
strategy for SBCC will vary from group to group. The following points
are important while considering the SBCC strategy.[7]
Vulnerability/risk factor of the target group
The vulnerability/risk factor of the group which is to be addressed
The conflict and obstacles in the way to desired change in behavior
Type of message and communication media which can best be used to reach the target group
Type of resources available and assessment of existing knowledge of
the target group about the issue which is going to be dealt with
There can be several more points in this list. A successful SBCC
requires much research and meticulous planning about the knowledge
content of the subject and behavior/attitude pattern of the target
group.
Implications
SBCC
has proven effective in several health areas, such as increasing the
use of family planning methods, reducing the spread of malaria and other
infectious diseases, and improving newborn and maternal health.
SBCC is an effective tool for dealing with many community and
group related problems. BCC has been adapted as an effective strategy
for community mobilization, health and environmental education and various public outreach programs.
Enhanced knowledge about the behavior change process has facilitated the
design of communications programs to reduce the risk of HIV
transmission and AIDS. A wide variety of health promotion strategies use
communication as either an educational or norm-forming strategy. In
addition, specific strategies must be designed for high-risk groups such
as women, young people, injecting drug abusers, homosexuals and HIV
positive groups.
Role in HIV/AIDS
SBCC
consists of effective communication which is central to the success of
interventions to reduce the risk of HIV infection. It plays a role to:
Increase knowledge
Stimulate community dialogue
Promote essential attitude change
Advocate for policy changes
Create a demand for information and services
Reduce stigma and discrimination
Promote services for prevention and care
The visual map theory was published by the famous neuroscientist and pioneer Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1898). According to this theory, the function of the
optic chiasm is to repair the retinal field image on the visual cortex.
The pupil in the vertebrates’ eyes inverts the image on the retina, so
that the visual periphery projects to the medial side of the retina. By
the chiasmatic crossing, the visual periphery is again on the outside,
if one assumes that the retinal map is faithfully maintained throughout
the optic tract.
The theory has a number of weaknesses. For example, the visual tracts spiral their way from the thalamic LGN to the visual cortex. (See figure; this path is known as the optic radiation.)
As a result, the retinal map shows the visual periphery on the medial
side. However, the central objective of the theory was to obtain a
precise, faithful visual map with the medial field projecting to the
medial sides of the visual cortex.
Two twist hypotheses have been proposed independently: the axial twist by de Marc Lussanet and Jan Osse and the somatic twist by Marcel Kinsbourne. Both of them propose that the rostral
part of the head, including the forebrain, is in fact effectively
completely turned around. As a consequence, the left and right in the
brain are reversed, but also
Social and behavior change communication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SBCC by health practitionerSBCC on the Development-Entertainment spectrum.
Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), often also only "BCC" or "Communication for Development (C4D)" is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, group or community (as integrated with an overall program) to develop communication
strategies to promote positive behaviors which are appropriate to their
settings and thereby solving the world's most pressing health problems.
This in turn provides a supportive environment which will enable people
to initiate, sustain and maintain positive and desirable behavior outcomes.[1]
SBCC is the strategic use of communication to promote positive health outcomes, based on proven theories and models of behavior change.
SBCC employs a systematic process beginning with formative research and
behavior analysis, followed by communication planning, implementation,
and monitoring and evaluation. Audiences are carefully segmented,
messages and materials are pre-tested, and mass media (which include
radio, television, billboards, print material, internet), interpersonal
channels (such as client-provider interaction, group presentations) and
community mobilisation are used to achieve defined behavioral
objectives.
Providing
people with information and teaching them how they should behave does
not lead to desirable change in their response/behavior. However, when
there is a supportive environment with information and communication
(teaching) then there is a desirable change in the behavior of the
target group. Thus, SBCC is proved to be an instructional intervention
which has a close interface with education and communication. It is a
strategic and group oriented form of communication to perceive a desired
change in behavior of target group.
However, it is not as easy as it sounds, as there is no
one-size-fits all strategy for any intervention. Interventions are
context specific. Therefore, there is a need for proper information
management and sharing. It is advised to document and report the
interventions that worked somewhere, for example, the kind of messages,
the medium and the audience.
Steps
SBCC is the comprehensive process in which one passes through the stages:
Define SBCC strategy & monitoring and evaluation plan
Develop communication products
Pretest
Implement and monitor
Evaluate
Analyze feedback and revise
Enabling factors
Behavior
change is influenced by motivation from others (external influence) as
well as from within oneself (internal influence). Internal influence
plays a significant role in creating more enjoyment of a behavior
change, instilling a sense of ownership of the new behavior, which in
turn instills a sense of ownership of the changed behavior.
When designing SBCC strategies, enabling factors that affect the
outcome must be considered. The following are some of the factors:
Effective communication
Enabling environment, which include policies, human rights community values and norms
User-friendly, accessible services and commodities
Theories
SBCC
has several levels at which it can be implemented. Each level includes
several theories. Each level (and each theory) employs specific
communication channels.
The SBCC Summit 2018 in Bali, Indonesia, focusing on social and behavior change communication and featuring Entertainment-Education.Over
1,200 attendees came to the 2018 SBCC Summit, where
Entertainment-Education was a main topic among Social and Behavior
Chance Communications professionals.
Strategies
SBCC
is different from the ordinary instructional method of communication
and is target specific. A society consists of many sub-groups. The
strategy for SBCC will vary from group to group. The following points
are important while considering the SBCC strategy.
Vulnerability/risk factor of the target group
The vulnerability/risk factor of the group which is to be addressed
The conflict and obstacles in the way to desired change in behavior
Type of message and communication media which can best be used to reach the target group
Type of resources available and assessment of existing knowledge of
the target group about the issue which is going to be dealt with
There can be several more points in this list. A successful SBCC
requires much research and meticulous planning about the knowledge
content of the subject and behavior/attitude pattern of the target
group.[1]
SBCC
has proven effective in several health areas, such as increasing the
use of family planning methods, reducing the spread of malaria and other
infectious diseases, and improving newborn and maternal health.
SBCC is an effective tool for dealing with many community and
group related problems. BCC has been adapted as an effective strategy
for community mobilization, health and environmental education and various public outreach programs.
Enhanced knowledge about the behavior change process has facilitated the
design of communications programs to reduce the risk of HIV
transmission and AIDS. A wide variety of health promotion strategies use
communication as either an educational or norm-forming strategy. In
addition, specific strategies must be designed for high-risk groups such
as women, young people, injecting drug abusers, homosexuals and HIV
positive groups.
Role in HIV/AIDS
SBCC
consists of effective communication which is central to the success of
interventions to reduce the risk of HIV infection. It plays a role to:
Increase knowledge
Stimulate community dialogue
Promote essential attitude change
Advocate for policy changes
Create a demand for information and services
Reduce stigma and discrimination
Promote services for prevention and care
Whereas the somatic twist hypothesis focuses purely on the morphological
phenomenon of the inversions of the forebrain, the axial twist theory
also addresses the development and the evolution. Also, the axial twist
theory is at present the only theory that has produced predictions that have been tested independently.
Axial twist theory
lSchema
of the developmental twist, according to the axial twist hypothesis. A,
B: The early embryo turns onto its left side; B, C: Symmetry is
retained by a further left turn in the anterior head region and a
compensating right turn in the rest of the body. D, E: Growth of the
optic tract leading to the optic chiasm. Colors refer to early embryo:
Red=right side, blue=left side, black=dorsal, white=ventral.
The axial twist theory was designed to explain how the pattern of contralateral organization, decussations and chiasms develops, and why this pattern is so evolutionarily stable,
having no known exceptions throughout the 500 million years of
vertebrate evolution. According to the theory, the contralateral
organization develops as follows: The early embryo is turned onto its
left side, such that its left is turned to the yolk and its right is
turned away from the yolk. This asymmetric orientation is compensated by
asymmetric growth, to regain superficial bilateral symmetry. The
anterior head region turns to the left, as shown in the schema. The
forebrain is not a superficial structure, but it is so intimately
associated with superficial body structures that it turns along with the
anterior head. These structures will later form the eyes, nostrils and
mouth.
The body behind the head compensates the asymmetric body
orientation in the opposite direction, by turning to the right. (See
schema.) Due to these oppositely directed compensations of the anterior
head and the rest of the body, the animal becomes twisted.
The optic tract grows from the retina to the optic tectum.
Because dorsal and ventral are inverted in the anterior head region, the
tracts grow at first toward the ventral side, to meet in the midline to
form a chiasma. Since the optic tectum lies on the dorsal midbrain,
each tract then continues dorsally to the contralateral optic tectum.
The heart and bowels are internal organs with no strong
integration in external body structures, so there is no evolutionary
pressure to make them turn in a similar way. Rather, these organs retain
their original asymmetric orientation in the body.
The axial twist hypothesis predicts that small asymmetries of the
face and brain—as well as those found in the opposite direction in the
trunk—remain into adulthood, and this has been confirmed scientifically.
Comparing inversion, somatic twist and axial twist
According to the dorsoventral inversion hypothesis, an ancestral deuterostome turned on its back. As a result, vertebrates have a dorsal nervous system, whereas protostomes
have a ventral one. According to the somatic twist hypothesis, not the
entire animal turned on its back but just the somatic part—i.e.,
everything behind the eyes, mouth and nostrils, including the forebrain.
The somatic twist hypothesis was proposed as an improvement to
the inversion hypothesis, and thus has a much wider explanatory power
than its predecessor, but is also more complicated. It not only explains
the inversion of the body but additionally the contralateral forebrain.
It does not explain, however, how the twist might develop in the
vertebrate embryo, nor does it address the possible evolution.
The axial twist theory was defined independently of the
other two. In addition to providing rationale for the inverted body and
the contralateral forebrain, it explains why the heart and bowels are
asymmetric. Moreover, it is the only one of the three theories that is
supported by evidence from embryological growth, and it is the only
theory that has been tested independently.
Evolution
A remarkable property of the contralateral organization is that it is present in every vertebrate. Even the most distant clades—agnathans—possess an optic chiasm, and even the skull impressions of early vertebrates from the Ordovician show the presence of an optic chiasm: this idea was worked out by Kinsbourne.
There is molecular evidence for the inversion hypothesis in almost all groups of deuterostomes.
It is not known, however, what exactly was the selective pressure that
caused the inversion. Twisting and asymmetric development are well known
from other deuterostomes—such as Hemichordata, Echinodermata, Cephalochordata and Tunicata. Turning toward the side or upside-down also occurs frequently in these clades (e.g. sea stars which turn their mouth downwards after the larva has briefly settled with the mouth turned up, or the adult lancelet which buries obliquely with its mouth turned up, or many fish which tend to turn around when feeding from the water surface).
Developmental malformations
In holoprosencephaly,
the hemispheres of the cerebrum or part of it are not aligned on the
left and right side but only on the frontal and occipital sides of the
skull, and the head usually remains very small. According to the axial
twist hypothesis, this represents an extreme case of Yakovlevian torque, and
may occur when the cerebrum does not turn during early embryology.
Cephalopagus or janiceps twins are conjoined twins
who are born with two faces, one on either side of the head. These
twins have two brains and two spinal cords, but these are located on the
left and the right side of the body.
According to the axial twist hypothesis, the two nervous systems could
not turn due to the complex configuration of the body and therefore
remained on either side.
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