Problem-based learning (PBL) has been a concept in existence for decades yet its implementation in medical student education is limited. Considering the nature of a physician's work, PBL is a logical step towards developing students' abilities to synthesize and integrate foundational concepts into clinical medicine. Harvard's recently redesigned Pathways curriculum has shifted almost exclusivel...

Depression, diminished positive affect, and exaggerated negative affect have all been linked to right frontal cortical asymmetry as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Emerging evidence, however, suggests that right frontal EEG asymmetry might be linked to empathic responding. EEG was used to assess baseline asymmetries in frontal brain activity. Participants viewed images associated with...

Even after long-term exposures, androids with a strikingly human-like appearance evoke unnatural feelings. The behavior that would induce human-like feelings after long exposures is difficult to determine, and it often depends on the cultural background of the observers. Therefore, in this study, we generate an acting performance system for the android, in which an android and a human interact ...

Context can influence the experience of any event. For instance, the thought that "it could be worse" can improve feelings towards a present misfortune. In this study we measured hedonic feelings, skin conductance, and brain activation patterns in 16 healthy volunteers who experienced moderate pain in two different contexts. In the "relative relief context," moderate pain represented the best o...

BACKGROUND The academic and medical literature highlights the positive effects of empathy for patient care. Yet, very little attention has been given to the impact of the requirement for empathy on the physicians themselves and on their emotional wellbeing. DISCUSSION The medical profession requires doctors to be both clinically competent and empathetic towards the patients. In practice, acco...

OBJECTIVE To identify demographic and clinical correlates associated with therapists' countertransference feelings on the first visit of women victims of sexual violence. METHOD Forty patients were seen by 26 therapists, during 2 consecutive years, at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Psychological Trauma, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre , Brazil. After the first visit with the p...

Objective: To identify demographic and clinical correlates associated with therapists’ countertransference feelings on the first visit of women victims of sexual violence. Method: Forty patients were seen by 26 therapists, during 2 consecutive years, at the Center for the Study and Treatment of Psychological Trauma, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. After the first visit with the pa...

• The meaning people attach to the act of smiling affects their subjective wellbeing. • People believe that smiling either reflects happiness or is an attempt to become happy. • Smile frequency can increase or reduce wellbeing, based on their belief. • Frequent smiling can backfire and make a person less happy. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Conventional wisdom (and existing research) su...