Laughter (and humor) involves the gradual build-up of expectation (a model) followed by a sudden twist or anomaly that entails a change in the model--but only as long as the new model is non-threatening--so that there is a deflation of expectation. The loud explosive sound is produced, we suggest, to inform conspecifics that there has been a 'false alarm', to which they need not orient. The sam...

In-Charge Dispensary, Barsar, District Kangra S. K., Pathan, of Kabul, aged 35, whilst on a journey in the Agency Tracts, drank water from an earthen vessel and during the act of swallowing he felt something in the throat which he took to be some blades of grass. He tried to pull them out but could not do so. For 20 days he constantly felt a tickling painful sensation. He tried on several occas...

This article explores why cultural branding – ideo-affective market communication addressing intense political tensions paradoxically seems to lead inertia rather than mobilization. I critically analyse advertising related race, ethnicity and immigration, but instead of only following the traced-out trajectory postcolonial theory, use lens Žižek’s radicalized Lacanian psychoanalysis treat thera...

Predictions of the near future can optimize the accuracy and speed of sensory processing as well as of behavioral responses. Previous experience and contextual cues are essential elements in the generation of a subjective prediction. Using a blocked fMRI paradigm, we investigated the pattern of neural activation in anticipation of a sensory stimulus and during the processing of the somatosensor...