Making a case for introspection

Defending first-person introspective access to own mental states, we argue against Carruthers' claim of mindreading being prior to meta-cognition and for a fundamental difference between how we understand our own and others' mental states. We conclude that a model based on one mechanism but involving two different kinds of access for self and other is sufficient and more consistent with the evidence

Creating an entrepreneurial region: exploring the entrepreneurial capacity of the East Midlands

This paper explores the notion of the entrepreneurial region and, in particular, the relevance and appropriateness of this concept to the East Midlands. An outline framework is developed that depicts aspects and dimensions of an entrepreneurial region. This is then applied to the East MIdlands to gauge how entrepreneurial the region is

Mindblind eyes: an absence of spontaneous theory of mind in Asperger syndrome

Adults with Asperger syndrome can understand mental states such as desires and beliefs (mentalizing) when explicitly prompted to do so, despite having impairments in social communication. We directly tested the hypothesis that such individuals nevertheless fail to mentalize spontaneously. To this end, we used an eye-tracking task that has revealed the spontaneous ability to mentalize in typically developing infants. We showed that, like infants, neurotypical adults’ (n = 17 participants) eye movements anticipated an actor’s behavior on the basis of her false belief. This was not the case for individuals with Asperger syndrome (n = 19). Thus, these individuals do not attribute mental states spontaneously, but they may be able to do so in explicit tasks through compensatory learning

Time-dependent Darboux (supersymmetric) transformations for non-Hermitian quantum systems

We propose time-dependent Darboux (supersymmetric) transformations that provide a scheme for the calculation of explicitly time-dependent solvable non-Hermitian partner Hamiltonians. Together with two Hermitian Hamilitonians the latter form a quadruple of Hamiltonians that are related by two time-dependent Dyson equations and two intertwining relations in form of a commutative diagram. Our construction is extended to the entire hierarchy of Hamiltonians obtained from time-dependent Darboux-Crum transformations. 
 As an alternative approach we also discuss the intertwining relations for Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants for Hermitian as well as non-Hermitian Hamiltonians that reduce the time-dependent equations to auxiliary eigenvalue equations. The working of our proposals is discussed for a hierarchy of explicitly time-dependent rational, hyperbolic, Airy function and nonlocal potentials

Quasi-exactly solvable quantum systems with explicitly time-dependent Hamiltonians

For a large class of time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians expressed in terms linear and bilinear combinations of the generators for an Euclidean Lie-algebra respecting different types of PT-symmetries, we find explicit solutions to the time-dependent Dyson equation. A specific Hermitian model with explicit time-dependence is analyzed further and shown to be quasi-exactly solvable. Technically we constructed the Lewis–Riesenfeld invariants making use of the metric picture, which is an equivalent alternative to the Schrödinger, Heisenberg and interaction picture containing the time-dependence in the metric operator that relates the time-dependent Hermitian Hamiltonian to a static non-Hermitian Hamiltonian

Exact analytical solutions for time-dependent Hermitian Hamiltonian systems from static unobservable non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

We propose a procedure to obtain exact analytical solutions to the time-dependent Schrödinger equations involving explicit time-dependent Hermitian Hamiltonians from solutions to time-independent non-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems and the time-dependent Dyson relation, together with the time-dependent quasi-Hermiticity relation. We illustrate the working of this method for a simple Hermitian Rabi-type model by relating it to a non-Hermitian time-independent system corresponding to the one-site lattice Yang-Lee model

Eternal life of entropy in non-Hermitian quantum systems

We find a different effect for the behavior of von Neumann entropy. For this we derive the framework for describing von Neumann entropy in non-Hermitian quantum systems and then apply it to a simple interacting PT-symmetric bosonic system. We show that our model is well defined even in the PT-broken regime with the introduction of a time-dependent metric and that it displays three distinct behaviors relating to the PT symmetry of the original time-independent Hamiltonian. When the symmetry is unbroken, the entropy undergoes rapid decay to zero (so-called “sudden death”) with a subsequent revival. At the exceptional point it decays asymptotically to zero and when the symmetry is spontaneously broken it decays asymptotically to a finite constant value (“eternal life”)

Mending the broken PT-regime via an explicit time-dependent Dyson map

We demonstrate that non-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems with spontaneously broken PT-symmetry and partially complex eigenvalue spectrum can be made meaningful in a quantum mechanical sense when introducing some explicit time-dependence into their parameters. Exploiting the fact that explicitly time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are unobservable and not identical to the energy operators in such a scenario, we show that their corresponding non-Hermitian energy operators develop a different type of PT-symmetry from the Hamiltonians that ensures the reality of their energy spectra. For this purpose we analytically solve the fully time-dependent Dyson equation with all quantities involved being explicitly time-dependent giving rise to a time-dependent metric. The key auxiliary equation to be solved for the two level atomic system considered here is the nonlinear Ermakov–Pinney equation with time-dependent coefficients

Neural signatures of strategic types in a two-person bargaining game

The management and manipulation of our own social image in the minds of others requires difficult and poorly understood computations. One computation useful in social image management is strategic deception: our ability and willingness to manipulate other people's beliefs about ourselves for gain. We used an interpersonal bargaining game to probe the capacity of players to manage their partner's beliefs about them. This probe parsed the group of subjects into three behavioral types according to their revealed level of strategic deception; these types were also distinguished by neural data measured during the game. The most deceptive subjects emitted behavioral signals that mimicked a more benign behavioral type, and their brains showed differential activation in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left Brodmann area 10 at the time of this deception. In addition, strategic types showed a significant correlation between activation in the right temporoparietal junction and expected payoff that was absent in the other groups. The neurobehavioral types identified by the game raise the possibility of identifying quantitative biomarkers for the capacity to manipulate and maintain a social image in another person's mind

Ethical standards for mental health and psychosocial support research in emergencies: review of literature and current debates (vol 13, pg 8, 2017)

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 March 2014 (boe-5-3-907