BACKGROUND Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are one of the most prominent symptoms of schizophrenia but have also been reported in the general population. Several cognitive models have tried to elucidate the mechanism behind auditory verbal hallucinations, among which a top-down model. According to this model, perception is biased towards top-down information (e.g., expectations), reducing ...

This small volume, running to about 320 pages, is the English translation, by Dr. H. Clayton Fox, of the second French edition of Dr. Georges Laurens' work. We have read the book with great pleasure and much profit, and have nothing but praise for it. From beginning to end it is crammed full of sound practical instruction and explains with great preciseness and clearness innumerable little poin...

I argue that we should reject the sparse view that there are or could be only a small number of rather distinct senses. When one appreciates this then one can see that there is no need to choose between the standard criteria that have been proposed as ways of individuating the senses—representation, phenomenal character, proximal stimulus and sense organ—or any other criteria that one may deem ...

Perception Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, sme...

According to Hermann von Helmholtz, sensations are signs (symbols) that external causes impress on our sense organs; those signs are then used by themind to acquire knowledge of the reality. Helmholtz’s work points out the di›culty of dening a notion of causality suitable for explaining the relation between sensations on the one hand and the physical world on the other. In fact, he states that...

In a state of voluntary trance or meditation, the perception of reality appears to extend beyond the usual spatial and temporal boundaries that are normally perceived by the sense organs. It is argued that the problems of validity and reliability of trance experiences for scientific discourse are in principle no different than the problems associated with ordinary perception. The shift in early...

We have examined the early pattern of sensory mother cells in embryos mutant for six different neurogenic loci. Our results show that the neurogenic loci are required to restrict the number of competent cells that will become sensory mother cells, but are not involved in controlling the localization or the position-dependent specification of competent cells. We conclude that these loci are invo...