Contributed photography / Whitney Snardon

Whitney Evans Snardon joins Parkridge Health System as market associate administrator and co-ethics and compliance officer. In her role, Snardon works closely with Tom Ozburn, president and CEO of Parkridge Health, and facility leadership to catalyze growth projects throughout the system. She will support the growing neuroscience program at Parkridge Health, oversee housekeeping services and assist with operations at Parkridge Valley Child & Adolescent and Adult & Senior campuses. Snardon earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola University, in New Orleans, and a Master of Health Administration degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She has served in several healthcare leadership roles, most recently as director of the neuroscience service line at Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Kentucky. Under her leadership, the neuroscience program at Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital experienced significant service line growth and efficiency gains. Prior to that, Snardon served as administrative fellow for Bon Secours Mercy Health.

Ian Shives is named the executive director for Morning Pointe of Collegedale at Greenbriar Cove. Shives brings nearly a decade of senior living experience and proven leadership skills to the Morning Pointe of Greenbriar Cove team. Shives obtained his bachelor's degree in social work from Southern Adventist University in 2010, and served as the director of social services for Life Care Centers of America and the director of operations for Heritage Healthcare Management Services.

Adria Sherrill, FNP-C, joins CHI Memorial Center for Healthy Aging. Sherrill earned a bachelor's in nursing and a master's in nursing, family nurse practitioner, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is an advanced registered nurse practitioner and certified in family medicine by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Sherrill joins Alycia Cleinman, MD, geriatric medicine specialist, Cassie Rodriguez, MSN, NP-C, and Einre Lopez, LCSW, at CHI Memorial Center for Healthy Aging. The practice focuses on adults aging into geriatrics and providing quality health care that helps individuals remain healthy and active throughout their lives.

Jason Gibson, a 26-year veteran of the senior living field, promotes to vice president of operations for Legacy Senior Living, expanding the scope of his role to oversee the organization's family of 14 senior living communities across the Southeast. Gibson, who joined Legacy Senior Living as an operations specialist and most recently served as regional director of operations, has a long-standing record of carrying out Legacy Senior Living's mission to serve seniors with honor, respect, faith and integrity. After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in human services management, Gibson honed his experience at senior living communities throughout the Southeast before returning to his native Cleveland and joining the Legacy Senior Living team in January of 2019.

John Bottley, legal counsel for legal and risk services at Life Care Centers of America, promotes to vice president of legal and risk services for the Cleveland, Tennessee-based nursing home and senior living company. Bottley oversees and coordinates all litigation, regulatory matters, contracts and other general legal matters for Life Care. He also advises executive leadership on various issues. Bottley joined Life Care Legal and Risk Services in 2013 as legal counsel. Prior to that appointment, he clerked for state judges in Hamilton County. A native of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Bottley is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, the Health Care Compliance Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel. He is licensed to practice law in both Tennessee and Georgia.

Linda Shriver-Buckner is named executive director of independent living community at the East Ridge Residence on Mack Smith Road. Shriver-Buckener has a diverse background in marketing, operations, and sales across several different industries such as state government, non-profits, and senior living. She previously served as a sales specialist for BrightSpace Senior Living for the past two years after serving as community relations director at the East Ridge Center. Shriver-Buckner also worked as a sales director at Hickory Valley Retirement Center. She is a 1986 graduate of Southern Adventist University and returned to Chattanooga in 2005.

Ashley Guthrie, FNP, joins The Austin Hatcher Foundation as clinical liaison. Guthrie is a family nurse practitioner and holds her M.S. Nursing from Belmont University. She has worked as a nurse and nurse practitioner in hospital, private care, and nonprofit settings. In her role as clinical liaison, she will be responsible for working alongside the clinical team at the foundation and pediatric health care providers to ensure all patients and their families utilize the support the foundation offers. Guthrie has been a longtime volunteer and board member, and she is the mother of a pediatric cancer survivor.

Holly Bischoff joins EMJ Construction as chief financial officer, responsible for the overall fiscal functions of EMJ and its subsidiaries and related companies. She continues to work with the executive leadership team to establish long range goals, strategies, plans and policies for each while aligning them with the overall mission, strategy and vision of EMJ. After graduating from Tennessee Technological University with a bachelor's in accounting, she attended the University of Oregon and earned an MBA with a concentration in finance. She began her career as a senior auditor at Arthur Andersen before moving to Brach's Confections where she served as a financial reporting supervisor and budgeting and planning manager. Bischoff joined EMJ in 2004 where she has served in successive positions, including controller, vice president of finance and accounting, senior vice president of finance and accounting and interim chief financial officer.

Darren Strickland is named as senior mortgage officer for First Horizon Bank. He serves the areas of Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee, and North Georgia. Strickland is a certified mortgage loan officer and a member of the Chattanooga Mortgage Bankers Association. Strickland graduated from the University of West Georgia with a bachelor's degree in finance and business administration. Darren is a former president of the Chattanooga Mortgage Bankers Association and a past recipient of the Chattanooga Mortgage Banker of the Year award.

Tyler Clemmons joins The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer as as a licensed clinical social worker. Clemmons is a licensed clinical social worker and holds a M.S. in Social Work from The University of Alabama. He has provided mental health therapy to children and families in the Chattanooga area for the past four years. In his role with the foundation, he will continue to offer counseling, support, and case management through evidence-based treatments.

Neuroscience

Cognition Therapeutics Publishes Evidence Identifying Receptor Integral in Parkinson’s Disease Pathology – GlobeNewswire

February 2, 2021 medical

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cognition Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage neuroscience company developing drugs that treat neurodegenerative disorders by regulating cellular damage response pathways, today announced that a peer-reviewed manuscript, entitled, Sigma-2-Receptor Antagonists Rescue Neuronal Dysfunction Induced by Parkinsons Patient Brain-Derived -Synuclein, has been published online in the Journal of Neuroscience Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24782). In this publication, Cognition scientists identify the sigma-2 (-2) receptor as integral in the pathology of Parkinsons disease.

In Parkinsons disease, cumulative damage from a variety of stressors results in structural changes in the -synuclein protein. Aggregates of -synuclein are strongly correlated with disease pathology in Parkinsons and related synucleinopathies such as dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy. In these diseases, -synuclein oligomers have been shown to disrupt several important cellular functions including autophagy and intracellular trafficking. When these processes are impaired, aggregated -synuclein and other altered proteins build up in neurons, causing further damage and eventual cell death.

Cognition scientists conducted extensive screening to identify compounds that rescue neurons from -synuclein oligomer-induced deficits, specifically in autophagy and trafficking processes. The compounds that had the most profound effects were discovered to be -2 receptor antagonists. This is consistent with findings reported in the literature describing -2 receptor components, TMEM97 and PGRMC1, as regulators of these pathways, but it is the first time that -2 antagonists have been demonstrated to have effects against -synuclein oligomers.

These data support the hypothesis that -2 receptor antagonists could represent a unique therapeutic approach to treating some of the underlying disease pathology in Parkinsons disease and potentially other related diseases like dementia with Lewy bodies, explained Susan Catalano, Ph.D., Cognitions founder and chief science officer. We have plans to explore one or more compounds from our library of -2 receptor antagonists in models of Parkinsons disease to better understand the role of -2 receptors in synucleinopathies.

About Cognition Therapeutics, Inc.Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. has discovered and is developing a pipeline of novel, disease modifying, oral drug candidates to treat a broad array of neurodegenerative and neuro-ophthalmic disorders. Our pipeline compounds uniquely target the -2 receptor, a key regulator of the cellular damage response. CT1812, our lead product candidate, is being assessed in a comprehensive clinical program for Alzheimers disease, including a 540-person Phase 2 study in collaboration with ACTC and supported by a competitive grant from the National Institute on Aging. Additional information about Cognition and its product candidates may be found online at http://www.cogrx.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statement, including those concerning the development and commercialization of Cognition Therapeutics product candidates and pipeline, their potential benefits and the Companys expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are based on information that is available as of date of this press release, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any such statements.

This press release contains references to CT1812, an investigational product. Use of CT1812 has not been approved by the FDA.

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Neuroscience

This Is Where Empathy Lives in the Brain, and How It Works – Singularity Hub

February 2, 2021 medical

Mind reading comes easily to most of us.

For all our divisions, humans are uncannily efficient at simulating another persons thoughts and beliefs. Its how you can walk a mile in someone elses shoes, know where theyre coming from, and in turn, generate empathy or predict how your actions impact others. Most of the time, we can even do this when we fundamentally disagree with the other persons point of view.

This mysterious ability to hop into someone elses headheck, even just to admit that theyre conscious beings with their own mindsis dubbed the theory of mind. Its simulation at its very best, where it allows us to connect and interact with others not just based on our own thoughts and actions, but also on our understanding of theirs. Its what lets you guess why your friend is upset on her birthday. Its behind strategy games like chess and entire disciplines such as game theory. Its what makes human society flourish or fail.

The problem? No one really knows how theory of mind works in our headsbut thats set to change.

This week, in a study with over half a dozen people, a team from Harvard Medical School and MIT recorded directly from single neurons in the forepart of their brains. For the first time, the scientists identified a special group of cells that lets us acknowledge and predict someone elses hidden beliefs. Even crazier, these neurons loyally encoded demonstrably false ideas that others may have, and beliefs that the person being studied doesnt necessarily agree with.

In other words, each of us has a smattering of brain cells dedicated to modeling another mind inside our own heads.

Until now, it wasnt clear whether or how neurons were able to perform these social cognitive computations, said study author Mohsen Jamali.

The results propelled a centuries-old debate on the nature of self and other into a new, scientifically-grounded era. But to lead author Dr. Ziv Williams, it also builds a framework to better capture the intricacies of how we model mindsand when or why it fails. Autism, for example, often leads to a breakdown in the ability to gauge social cues. People with brain injuries due to trauma can also lose that predictive superpower. And outside our own species, a model of how we model each others minds could form a powerful tool to bolster AI, providing them with an artificial theory of mind and a lot more common sense when dealing with people.

Debates over the theory of mind have roots going back to 17th-century philosophy. But modern excitement, especially in neuroscience, sparked in the early 1990s, when neuroscientists captured the inner electrical dialogue of a very special type of neurons.

Recording from the motor regions of the brains of macaque monkeys, they found a bizarre population that fired not only when the monkey waved its arm aroundsay, to grab an apple or ring a bellbut also when it watched another monkey perform the same action. Even weirder, the same neurons sparked with electrical activity when the monkey heard someone else performing the task in another room. Unlike any other known type of brain cell at the time, these mirror neurons seemed to encode for another beings actions and goals, rather than those of its own host.

Mirror neurons exploded in popularity for the next few decades. Some believed theyre the seat of empathy. Others thought theyre central to human social interaction capabilities, such as speech. One prominent pop-culture neuroscientist even went as far as saying that these cells shaped our civilization.

Yet as more sophisticated tools and techniques grew in social neuroscience, people soon realized that mirror neurons werent the end-all of empathy, language, or autism. Rather, using state-of-the-art brain imaging, scientists began honing down towards the front of the brain, sitting right behind the foreheadthe prefrontal cortexas the piece of the brain that captures anothers beliefs and thoughts.

Schooled by overpromises from mirror neurons, however, few were willing to hallmark the brain region as a supporter of theory of mind. After all, brain imaging captures the aggregated and averaged activity of thousands, if not more, neurons simultaneously. The readout is then influenced by other brain regions, painting a murky picture.

One way to sharpen it? Record from single neurons.

The new study blew people away with just that. Rather than relying on social but non-human animals, they went straight to the source: human volunteers who have electrodes implanted. These participants had already gone through brain surgery in preparation for a treatment for Parkinsons disease, and bravely signed on for the study. This allowed the team to directly record from single neurons in human brainssomething generally outside the reach of most theory of mind studies.

In all, they tapped into over 320 neurons embedded in the subjects frontal brains. As the implanted microelectrodes silently recorded the brain cells electrical activity, the team asked the participants to listen to a short story.

Take this scenario: You and Tom see a jar on the table. After Tom leaves, you move the jar to the cupboard. The listener knows that the jar is in the cupboard. But Tom doesnt. Because of theory of mind, we can reason that Tom will still think the jar is on the table.

The team then asked the listeners two seemingly simple questions. The first was where is the jar, or an objective assessment based on the listeners understanding. The second was more interestingwhere does Tom think the jar is? which probes the brains simulation of Toms mind.

Immediately, the team found a slew of neurons that surprisingly captured the distinction between internal beliefs and those of others. About 20 percent of recorded neurons reliably fired with activity when they predicted Toms belief. An even higher percentage sparked to life when Tom stated a true beliefthat is, true from his perspective. In all, the electrical activity of these neurons could predict nearly 80 percent of the time whether the listener accurately predicted Toms mental image of the jar.

To rephrase: we have neurons in our heads that encode for someone elses idea of reality, rather than whats actually true or real. This holds rather unnerving implications, in that the neurons solely reflect someone elses specific perspectiveyour perspective, or the truth, doesnt come into play.

If youre thinking oh well, these brain cells just respond to prediction, the authors have answers here too. It gets weirder.

For one, the cells that encode data for Toms ideas update to his perception of reality. When the participants heard that after Tom leaves, you move the jar to the cupboard as he watches you through the window, the same cells that encoded Toms perspective will shift gears, leading to the answer that now Tom knows the jar is in the cupboard. Your brain cells, encoding for someone elses beliefs, will update when their beliefsnot your ownupdate.

For another, the neurons also captured specific details about Toms beliefs. Using stories similar to the jar and cupboard, for example, the team found that these mind-reading neurons could encode for the items identity (a jar versus a table or vegetables), its location, color, and other characteristics. Compiling all the tests together, the team built a model with these neurons that could accurately predict another persons concept at nearly six times more than chance, regardless of the difficulty of reasoning.

Each neuron is encoding different bits of information, said Jamali. By combining the computations of all the neurons, you get a very detailed representation of the contents of anothers beliefs and an accurate prediction of whether they are true or false.

Are these predictive neurons just another mirror neuron story in the making? Many dont think so. Dr. Uta Frith, an Emeritus Professor at UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, commented, Amazing that single cells in [the prefrontal cortex]show activity during mentalizing, recapitulating findings from more blunt human brain recording instruments such as MRI. But mostly, the leap is in our methods for probing our own mindseven as they encode for someone elses. Its amazing that this type of recording can be done at all, said Frith.

Image Credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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Neuroscience

University of Maryland Launches New Brain and Behavior Institute, Announces Founding Director – Yahoo Finance

February 2, 2021 medical

The University of Maryland launched the Brain and Behavior Institute to elevate the university's research and teaching programs in neuroscience and promote innovative, multidisciplinary approaches to solve the most pressing problems of nervous system function and disease.

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- University of Maryland Senior Vice President and Provost Mary Ann Rankin announced last week the establishment of the new Brain and Behavior Institute (BBI) and appointed its founding director, UMD Biology Professor Elizabeth Quinlan.

The BBI will elevate the university's research and teaching programs in neuroscience and promote innovative, multidisciplinary approaches to solve the most pressing problems of nervous system function and disease. A primary goal of the institute is to strengthen collaborations among neuroscientists, engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, physical scientists, cognitive scientists and humanities scholars.

"Understanding the brain and how it influences behavior is one of the most important and complicated grand challenges of our time, and our success ultimately depends on teamwork," said Amitabh Varshney, dean of UMD's College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS). "By establishing this new institute and appointing a strong leader who has experience with interdisciplinary research, our BBI faculty members will be able to build on their strengths and work together across their diverse fields, lending expertise and support to each other's efforts, and take our university's high-quality neuroscience research program to the next level."

For the past five years, UMD invested in the Brain and Behavior Initiative to foster interdisciplinary interactions in neuroscience across its College Park campus, and the provost's announcement of the new institute renews and expands the university's commitment to neuroscience research and teaching. At the heart of the initiative was a desire for a collaborative research community across the physical and life sciences. The initiative's seed grant program yielded a 900% return on seed grant investments, through 15 awards from private organizations and government funding, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative, National Institute of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

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The institute will play a vital role in the university's neuroscience ecosystem, which also includes the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science interdisciplinary graduate program and new undergraduate neuroscience major launched last fall. The BBI will also continue to strengthen interactions with collaborators at other institutions, including the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

A campus-wide endeavor, the BBI is administratively housed in CMNS and supported financially by the Office of the Provost, UM Center for Economic and Entrepreneurship Development, A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, Division of Research, CMNS, A. James Clark School of Engineering, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, School of Public Health, College of Education, and College of Arts and Humanities.

"The BBI will recruit outstanding faculty, tools, and partnerships to expand and elevate interdisciplinary research and training in neuroscience," Quinlan said. "By strengthening and diversifying interactions between neuroscience and complementary disciplines, the BBI is positioning UMD to be a world leader in advancing innovations in experimental and analytical approaches to understanding the brain and behavior."

As the institute director, Quinlan will hold the Clark Leadership Chair in Neuroscience, which was endowed with a gift from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation that was matched by the state's Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund. Quinlan also has a joint appointment in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at UMB.

In her own research program, Quinlan's research has identified changes in the brain that occur with aging and pioneered strategies to promote recovery of functions lost with age. The research in her lab has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2002.

Quinlan served as co-director of the Brain and Behavior Initiative and the MPowering the State initiative on Brain Health and Human Performance from 2018 to 2020. In the latter role, she strengthened collaborative neuroscience research and graduate education between UMD and the University of Maryland School of Medicine. From 2007 to 2016, she directed the physiological systems concentration area of the Biological Sciences Graduate Program.

She joined UMD in 2001 as an assistant professor, following postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the University of Virginia. Quinlan earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.S. in psychology/biology from the University of Iowa.

"She incorporates a highly interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience in both classroom and lab settings," Rankin said of Quinlan in her announcement. "I have no doubt that she will advance the rising profile of Maryland neuroscience research and promote the success of the BBI community."

Media Contact

Abby Robinson, UMD, 301-405-5845, abbyr@umd.edu

SOURCE University Of Maryland

Originally published January 27, 2021, 1:35 PM

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Neuroscience

Cognito Therapeutics Appoints Mark Day, Ph.D., as Chief Business Officer – Business Wire

February 2, 2021 medical

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cognito Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company leading the development of a new class of disease-modifying digital therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimers disease, announced today the appointment of Mark Day, Ph.D., as Chief Business Officer. In this role, Dr. Day will drive business development and partnership activities at Cognito in conjunction with the Cognito leadership team.

Dr. Day brings more than 21 years of business, corporate, research and development strategy expertise to Cognito. He has evaluated over 300 programs, resulting in a uniquely broad knowledge base and network in the pharmaceutical industry. He has successfully led product licensing, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions and product development programs with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in neuroscience and rare disease indications.

Prior to joining Cognito, Dr. Day was Vice President, head of the McQuade Centre for Research and Development & Early-Stage Life Science Investment (MSRD) at Otsuka U.S., where he evaluated numerous early-stage central nervous system (CNS) programs. Prior to Otsuka, he was the Chief Executive Officer at Bioasis Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for CNS disorders. He has also held senior roles at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth and Abbott.

As Cognito continues to build momentum following our recent FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for our lead product for the treatment of Alzheimers, we are excited to have Mark join us to further strengthen our leadership team, said Brent Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer of Cognito Therapeutics. His depth of knowledge leading therapeutic programs in neuroscience and CNS disorders will be invaluable, as we expand the development of Cognitos pipeline of digital therapeutics to effect disease modification in a broader range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Cognitos digital therapeutic device has the potential to transform the treatment landscape across a number of indications by addressing the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases, beginning with Alzheimers, said Mark Day, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer, Cognito Therapeutics. I look forward to working with Brent and the rest of the executive leadership team while leveraging pharmaceutical and biotech development efforts to bring Cognitos next-generation digital therapeutic devices to patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders and other chronic diseases.

Dr. Day earned a B.Sc. (Hons) in Biological Psychology and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Cardiff University. He completed his post doctorate studies in systems level neuroscience at The University of Edinburgh. Dr. Day has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers in leading medical journals on translational medicine, impulsivity, stroke, cognitive dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric illness such as Alzheimers disease and ADHD, including first authorships in Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuroimaging and Proceedings of the Royal Society.

About Cognito Therapeutics

Cognito Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company developing a pipeline of disease-modifying digital therapeutics that have shown drug-like effects to treat neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimers disease. The companys licensed proprietary neuromodulation platform technology, developed by scientific founders at MIT, Professors Li-Huei Tsai and Ed Boyden is a non-invasive, neurostimulation therapy utilizing visual and auditory stimulation to treat neurodegenerative diseases. The company is based in Boston and San Francisco. For more information, please visit http://www.cognitotx.com. Follow us on Twitter at @cognitotx.

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Human Behavior

How To Help Burned Out Employees Change Their Habits – Forbes

February 2, 2021 medical

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 09: BJ Fogg, Founder & Director Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University, ... [+] speaks onstage at the Why Tiny Habits Give Big Results panel during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 9, 2013 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jesse Knish/Getty Images for SXSW)

Complexity is the defining business and leadership challenge of our time. But it has never felt more urgent than this moment, with the coronavirus upending life and business as we know it. Since March, weve been talking to leaders about what it takes to lead through the most complex and confounding problems, including the pandemic. Today we speak with BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Fogg is the founder of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University.

David Benjamin and David Komlos: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your area of expertise.

BJ Fogg: My focus is human behavior and improving peoples lives by helping them be happier and healthier - and so I call myself a behavior scientist. I split my time between running a research lab and teaching at Stanford, and teaching and training people in industry. That allows me to keep one foot in both worlds, which is unusual and tricky to maintain. All the work I do on practical problems in industry helps me take on important research questions at Stanford. And then the rigor at Stanford helps me do a better job in industry.

Benjamin and Komlos: Can you briefly describe what business leaders can learn by reading your book?

Fogg: Pick any aspirational outcome - whatever youre trying to achieve - and that's the starting point for a system that I explain in the book called behavior design. It boils everything down to behaviors, and once you've figured out the desired behaviors, you can systematically design how to make any business outcome happen.

Benjamin and Komlos: How does behavior design work? Can you explain the Fogg Behavior Model behind it and how it unlocks behavior change?

Fogg: I summarize the Behavior Model as B = MAP: Behavior happens when motivation and ability and prompt converge at the same moment. Motivation is your desire to do the behavior; ability is your capacity to do the behavior; and prompt is your cue to do the behavior.

Human behavior isnt complex - it always comes down to motivation, ability and prompt - but within each component there can be a lot of complexity. What motivates a 12-year-old boy in Merced, California is different than what motivates a 79-year-old woman in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are nuances and factors in what makes things hard or easy for people. Prompts have various facets to them. The formula itself, B = MAP, is straightforward, elegant, and describes all behaviors, but within those three components you get individual differences and cultural differences and differences that shift moment by moment. The complexity isn't in the behavior itself, it's in all the variables in our environment and perceptions of the environment.

Benjamin and Komlos: What is Shine and what is its relevance in behavior change?

Fogg: Based on the research Ive done, it turns out its not repetition that creates habits; its our emotions that reinforce behaviors and turn them into habits. As I coached thousands of people, I tuned into the specific emotion that most helps people with this reinforcement, and thats the good feeling they have when they succeed at something. That emotion didnt have a name, so I called it shine.

Benjamin and Komlos: Is a forced change prompted by a major crisis like the pandemic a different mechanism? Or can it still be explained using your behavioral model?

Fogg: Its absolutely the same. For example, consider millions of peoples changed habits in terms of how and where they work. A strong motivator, fear (of getting sick, of getting your parents or grandparents sick, of looking like you're not a good citizen), coupled with an increase in ability (my boss says its okay, and I have the technology available) has created this massive shift. In fact, many people will continue on with new work habits even after the motivating fear is removed because so much has changed in terms of the ability to work somewhere outside of the office and in new ways.

Benjamin and Komlos: Do the current circumstances (i.e., high levels of stress, trapped at home, etc.) make it harder for people to intentionally establish a new habit they want or break a habit they dont want?

Fogg: Yes, because their attention is diffused and their motivation is bouncing around from worry to worry. As an example in the book, I talk about the formal research we did with nurses and emergency department workers, teaching them to do Tiny Habits. At the time, even though there wasn't a pandemic, these people were burning the candle at both ends. There was simply no way you were going to get them to meditate for 30 minutes or go walking for an hour, or take a Zumba or Crossfit class, or train for a marathon.

Yet Tiny Habits worked very, very well for them because it was systematic, the changes they took on were small and incremental, and they didnt require a lot of motivation. Thats the only way for stressed-out, anxious, tapped-out people to reliably change. Despite all the stress and anxiety and fatigue, they still could use the method - to drink more water, to do brief meditations, to look a patient in the eye, to compliment a co-worker, or to take three calming breaths.

Benjamin and Komlos: Many business leaders have told us that during the pandemic their teams have fallen into the habit of focusing on the day-to-day to the exclusion of spending time planning for the future. Would you consider this a downhill habit (easy to maintain / difficult to stop), and if so, can you offer any advice on how to overcome it?

Fogg: Getting tasks done each day isnt a bad thing, of course. Whats dropped out is planning for the longer term. By using the steps in Behavior Design company leaders can help their teammates rebalance.

The first step is to specify an aspiration for the company (what most people would call a goal). Once the aspiration is clear, you use a method I call magic wanding. This allows your team to explore many behaviors that can help them reach the aspiration. When magic wanding, a leader can specify the timeframe and guide the team to focus on the longer term objectives.

Benjamin and Komlos: Do you have any other specific advice leaders should heed today? Any parting thoughts?

Fogg: If I had a magic wand and could influence the behavior of all business leaders in the world, it would be to make them really effective - with superpower abilities - at helping people feel successful. That's the game-changer for habits and for peoples personal perception of themselves.

People need to feel successful and leaders need to help them feel that way now more than ever. The next time an employee is giving a talk for the first time on Zoom, you can offer blunt criticism that's going to hurt like crazy, or you can offer feedback thats true and positive that's really going to help them feel good. My advice is to get good at giving people shine.

Human Behavior

Human Disturbance Is Forcing Animals to Move Further Distances, Scientists Find – EcoWatch

February 2, 2021 medical

In 2017, a team of researchers went to the Santa Cruz Mountains to study how mountain lions responded to human disturbance. Hanging speakers that broadcasted human voices, they found mountain lions were fearful of the sounds, altering their eating behaviors and the corresponding food chain, The Atlantic reported.

"People often fear large carnivores like mountain lions, but in reality, they are far more scared of us," Kaitlyn Gaynor from UC Berkeley, who was not involved in the study, told The Atlantic.

Scientists have long understood that human activity impacts wildlife, but most studies have focused on individual species' behaviors.

For the first time, researchers calculated the global impact of human activity on animal movement, according to the University of Sydney. Their findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Compiling data from 208 studies on 167 species, from both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, scientists quantified how human activity impacts the movement of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and arthropods, the authors wrote.

"It is vital we understand the scale of impact that humans have on other animal species," lead author Dr. Tim Doherty, a wildlife ecologist, told the University of Sydney. "The consequences of changed animal movement can be profound and lead to reduced animal fitness, lower chances of survival, reduced reproductive rates, genetic isolation and even local extinction."

Human disturbance reduced an animal's movement, on average, by 37 percent or increased it by 70 percent, the authors wrote in The Conversation.

South Africa's spotted sand lizard, for example, was found to move more frequently over larger areas than lizards in less disturbed areas. Similarly, moose in Norway were found to increase their home ranges by 84 percent due to military operations, the University of Sydney noted.

While some species increased their movements, others were restricted from human disturbances. Due to forest fragmentation, South America's Northern bearded saki monkey decreased its home range and movement speeds, The Guardian reported.

Changes in their movement impact more than just the animal's ability to "find mates, food and shelter, escape predators and competitors, and avoid disturbances and threats," the authors wrote in The Conversation. These changes also "cascade" throughout ecosystems.

For example, when mountain lions heard human voices, their movements slowed, which increased the distances of rodents in the area, The Guardian reported.

"Animal movement is linked to important ecological processes such as pollination, seed dispersal and soil turnover, so disrupted animal movement can have negative impacts throughout ecosystems," Doherty told the University of Sydney.

While all human activities can impact animal behavior, the scientists found that hunting and recreation had more of an impact on animals than urbanization and logging, The Guardian reported.

"That most species increase movement in response to disturbance gives an interesting hint regarding the mechanism of anthropogenic pressures beyond the obvious, such as invasive predators, habitat loss or direct exploitation," professor Corey Bradshaw, director of the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University in South Australia, told The Guardian.

Although the study confirmed much of what the scientists already knew, their findings can direct policy decisions to address human disturbance and promote conservation. But "where habitat modification is unavoidable," Doherty added, "we recommend that knowledge of animal movement behaviour informs landscape design and management to ensure animal movement is secured."

One conservation effort aimed at adapting to animal movement is currently underway in one of the world's major cities. In the increasingly growing urban environment of Los Angeles, mountain lion populations are split by a major freeway. This causes the populations to experience low genetic diversity and high mortality rates due to human activity, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

In response, the National Wildlife Federation's #SaveLACougars campaign is in its final stages of developing what may be the largest wildlife crossing in the world, enabling mountain lions and other species to cross California's 101 freeway safely.

"As evidenced from decades of wildlife crossing projects across the world... wildlife crossings work," the National Wildlife Federation wrote in a statement. The crossing can also "serve as a model for urban wildlife conservation across the globe."

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Human Disturbance Is Forcing Animals to Move Further Distances, Scientists Find - EcoWatch

Human Behavior

Dice Clay to perform virtually from Governor’s on Valentine’s Day – Newsday

February 2, 2021 medical

Comedian Andrew Dice Clay will spend Valentines Day performing on stage at Governors Comedy Club in Levittown to an empty room. The Brooklyn native plans to deliver his sharp-tongued stand-up over Zoom through a panoramic design of three 10 screens where he can view the audience in their homes.

"The comic interacts with the audience from the screens as if they were really at the club." says owner James Dolce. "The audience members laughs, applause and voice comes through our sound system so it makes it easy for the comedian to engage with them."

It appears the Diceman is up for the challenge.

"This is the first time Im doing something like this and Im excited about it," says Clay, 63. "Look, Im like everybody I want this whole pandemic thing to end but I do find it amazing that through technology we can pull this off. Thats the beauty of human behavior, we find ways to get through stuff in times like this. But, let me tell you somethingpeople need to laugh!"

The situation reminds Dolce of the theatrical symbol of the comedy and tragedy masks.

"As the pandemic continues and people are feeling isolated, I wanted to bring my customers together to laugh and escape from this tragedy even just for a little while," says Dolce. "This virtual system I have in place gives them a true feel of being out at a live comedy show but still in the safety of their homes."

Clay is no stranger to using the camera to turn out comedy. Over the past year he has become a hotly requested celebrity on Cameo, a personalized video greeting service on the internet.

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"Its been a creative outlet for me during the lockdown. I love doing them," he says. "I get all kinds of requests. They let me know if its a birthday, anniversary or if someone just needs a pep talk. Funny thing is a quarter of my Cameo requests come from Long Island."

Long Islanders have always connected with Clay who has a knack for incorporating the crowd into his act.

"I see a certain face, a certain build, a certain attitude and I react," he says. "Im fearless on stage. I dont even think about it. I wing it. Its what I do and I love it."

The evening is being sarcastically billed as "A Night with Mr. Romance" as Dice is not known for his sensitivity. However, he has a new love in his life.

"I have a new girlfriend and shes extremely nice. Ive never come up against this," he says. "Every marriage, every girlfriend or every fiance, its just been a war. This has been going on since Im 17. Its ridiculous. This girl Im dating now is a nice human being. Frankly, its hard to handle."

ANDREW DICE CLAY VIRTUAL CONCERT

WHEN/WHERE 7 p.m. check-in, 7:30 p.m. showtime, Sunday, February 14, govs.com

ADMISSION $55 per household

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.

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Dice Clay to perform virtually from Governor's on Valentine's Day - Newsday

Human Behavior

Jerry Martin: Fluid intelligence and Sudoku – The Union of Grass Valley

February 2, 2021 medical

For about 60 years I have been fascinated with psychology. I believe that the brains of all humans make us special and dominant on Earth. I believe God gave us these brains to eventually, over many millennia, develop a peaceful, loving, creative, progressive environment.

Earth potentially will become a habitat in which all life thrives together. But only if we humans collectively use our brains optimally.

We are making progress by slowly eliminating practices like slavery, racial and religious discrimination, misogyny and violence, including war, for example, but we obviously have a long way to go.

Many psychologists have studied human behavior controlled by our brains. They have written in simple enough language expressing theories that are understood by the common human, including me. Howard Gardner gave us multiple intelligences. Daniel Goleman wrote about emotional intelligence, Eric Berne gave us transactional analysis. And William Glasser produced choice theory.

But the study that most explains the particular advantage of Sudoku as a tool to train logical development was produced by Raymond Cattell and his adherent, John Horn. These psychologists theorized that every human has two different intelligences, fluid and crystalized, though of different amounts. Most activities require both intelligences.

Crystallized intelligence is mostly learned in school and from books and repetitive activities such as riding a bicycle and washing dishes. Memorizing the multiplication table and alphabet would be crystallized intelligence. Learning dates of events, names of famous people, lyrics of songs and the Pledge of Allegiance would all be crystallized intelligence.

Fluid intelligence is different. This is the intelligence that we use when logically solving a new, unfamiliar problem or providing a creative solution to a difficulty. Applying logic to relevant information by using fluid intelligence is what allowed the Wright brothers to build the first heavier than air vehicle (airplane) in 1903. Studying birds, they realized the distance air travels over wings is greater than the distance air travels under wings. This produced less air pressure above than below, producing lift, which enables flight. All wings are designed on this principle, which was understood with fluid intelligence. Until then this concept was not in books or schools or previous human experience.

Every subject has elements of who, what, when, where, why and how. Who, what, when and where are subjects that crystallized intelligence mostly considers. Liberal arts subjects primarily teach crystallized intelligence. Why and how are in the domain of fluid intelligence. Math and science develop fluid intelligence.

To create a new solution to a problem, we must utilize our fluid intelligence. Some people, the more creative among us, have strong fluid intelligence and are better at solving problems and creating successful solutions.

Studying math and science trains us to develop logical thinking skills. Mathematicians and scientists develop fluid intelligence while learning these subjects. They also employ their crystallized intelligence when learning previously established facts and formulas, cause and effect.

Sudoku also teaches fluid intelligence by requiring the same problem solving processes about 50 times each puzzle. To solve Sudoku puzzles, one must first recognize what information is relevant. A solver must never guess and must always withhold judgment until enough information is available. These are cause and effect simplified. Pattern recognition is important, too. And understanding that 100% accuracy is always required, which emphasizes the value of truth.

The basic skills of fluid intelligence are all developed by doing Sudoku puzzles repeatedly. Over time a Sudoku solver will incorporate fluid intelligence into their repertoire of cognitive abilities. Sudoku is an informal practice available outside academia that trains fluid intelligence but not crystallized intelligence. Sudoku is a shortcut for training fluid intelligence that bypasses the necessity for science and math courses which dont appeal to all humans and are unavailable to many.

Sudoku can be done alone outside school by a wide variety of humans. All ages, both genders, all languages and nationalities can develop fluid intelligence by solving Sudokus. Sudoku is practical, being cheap, available and able to be done almost anywhere anytime. While valuable in U.S. schools, its perfect in third world countries where many children have limited schooling opportunities.

While Ive emphasized Sudokus benefits for children, its also wonderful for prisoners and seniors for developing self-esteem, ameliorating boredom and preventing dementia.

Educators need to seriously consider the advantages of adding this practical tool for training valuable fluid intelligence. Sudoku is a low tech tool to train brain gain.

For more information visit: http://www.sudokuasateachingtool.org.

Jerry Martin lives in Grass Valley.

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Jerry Martin: Fluid intelligence and Sudoku - The Union of Grass Valley

Human Behavior

The Role of Violence in the American Literary Canon – Fordham Observer

February 2, 2021 medical

American Psycho, Blood Meridian and the surprising benefits of graphic content

In his controversial book Clash of Civilizations, late former White House Coordinator of Security Planning Samuel Phillips Huntington wrote, The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. He continued, Westerners often forget this fact.

Americas development is indebted as much to the firearms of Hotchkiss and Colt as to the policy of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. We owe our history as much to the smallpox virus as to the Declaration of Independence. American independence was not achieved through peaceful protest, but with what would now be considered terrorism.

Violence in America is part of our history and identity. Today, Americans own more guns than anyone else, while producing the highest number of serial killers globally.

What we see in books like Psycho and Meridian resonates with the realities of 2020 and the emerging events of 2021.

Americans have a special relationship with violence, and violence occupies a special place in American literature. Perhaps the most violent novel written to date is American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, a book listed at #6 on the Goodreads list of the most violent books ever written.

All other books in the lists top 10 were written by extreme horror author Wade H. Garrett. Garrett is not a gifted writer but his monopolization of the Goodreads list is only broken by American Psycho and Cormac McCarthys Blood Meridian, which are both formidable American classics.

Unlike Garretts pretentious and juvenile ultra-horror, Blood Meridian is based on historical events, documenting the massacre of Indigenous Americans who stood between settlers and western goldfields.

American Psycho is similarly nestled within the physical and social realities of 1980s Wall Street. The soulless antihero of Patrick Bateman embodies what an American corporation might have looked like if it were human: ruthless, vain, prideful and insecure.

While American Psycho occurs in a moral desert, Blood Meridian occurs in a literal one. The unforgiving landscape of Meridian displays the inherent brutality of nature itself a sort of warfare predating and underpinning all humanity. As it is explained in Meridian, war lay waiting for man the ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.

In a review of Blood Meridian, literary critic Harold Bloom said, The sheer carnage of it, though it is intensely stylized, is nevertheless overwhelming. Its shocking. Its horrifying but if you break through it, if you read your way into the cosmos of the book, then you are rewarded you get a frightening vision of what is indeed something very deeply embedded in the American spirit.

Similarly, what makes the violence of Psycho redeemable is the power of its vision: a world of faceless yuppies with interchangeable suits, haircuts and names, so concerned with appearance and wealth that all moral concern and human substance recede as if into an abyss.

Reading Psycho is like listening to death metal through a Walkman while doing aerobic gymnastics. Its like seeing Nietzsche dressed in a neon bodysuit dancing to Madonna while cheerfully declaring God is dead.

Upon the Technicolor canvas of the 1980s, Ellis paints a world of unrelenting economic expansion, a place where moral humanity is sucked into the flames of an ever-expanding capitalist garbage fire.

In Ellis vision, mergers and acquisitions become interchangeable with murders and executions. Within the gilded cage of Ellis modern nightmare, Bateman is the most dangerous animal at the Armani zoo.

But literary violence isnt only about entertainment. What we see in books like Psycho and Meridian resonates with the realities of 2020 and the emerging events of 2021.

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, 2020 saw over 19,000 people killed by firearms, the highest fatality rate in more than 20 years. Time magazine declared that 2020 Will End as One of Americas Most Violent Years in Decades. A report from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice found that homicides rose by 36% across 28 major U.S. cities between June and October 2020. Every year since 2017 represented a spike more than double the previous average for school shootings.

The video of George Floyd being casually murdered sparked protests that occasionally erupted into violent upheaval. No sooner had the outrage begun to subside than the Capitol was besieged. Irreverence and force have never been far from American hearts.

A long time ago, in a neighborhood not far from Fordhams Lincoln Center campus, a mob assembled in lower Manhattan. It was July 9, 1776, when the crowd tore down a government-installed statue of King George III.

They didnt stop there. They melted George into ammunition.

When the British government responded with troops, they were met with melted majesty their beloved king had become musket balls.

Reading provides a pathway to extremes of human behavior that doesnt sacrifice personal safety.

A quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson states, When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. But there is no evidence Jefferson ever actually said or wrote these words.

The violence in American literature and culture might help explain why this fictional quote is so widely embraced. Violence is etched into the stones of American history. Its a tattoo upon our national flesh that has never really begun to fade.

When you read violence, youre placing your fingers more firmly against the pulse of this country and, indeed, the world. Horror may be an appropriate reaction to violence, but it is rarely useful. Critical reading subverts horror reactions, replacing them with deeper meditations.

An hour of reading can unlock decades. Importantly, reading provides a pathway to extremes of human behavior that doesnt sacrifice personal safety.

If you can develop an understanding of monsters like Patrick Bateman of American Psycho or Judge Holden of Blood Meridian, you might find yourself more perceptive when it comes to the motivations of your fellow citizens. Monsters, after all, are most compelling when they are human.

The word violence comes from the Latin word for vehemence and, in the hands of a competent author, violence can be where we can find our own neglected passions and forgotten feelings.

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The Role of Violence in the American Literary Canon - Fordham Observer