The semantic N400 and syntactic P600 are some of the most well established ERP components in the literature. They were discovered decades ago and the results have been replicated hundreds of times in other papers. There is just no question that they are present and very robust. That's not saying they are there 100% of the time in 100% of people. All we know is that it's a very easy response to get out and by now it would be surprising / worthy of investigation if people didn't show them in the standard paradigm.
There is a paper from a few years ago that looks at the 30 years of N400 research and all the papers that found the effects. It's probably a bit out of date now but it does a great summary of the research up until that point.
I think Hillyard & Kutas (1983) is the original paper.
ERP components are not always so tightly linked in time. You can module them based on task context and shift them by all sorts of ways so it's never that the peak is exactly at 400 ms post-stimulus. It can start WAY before then and end WAY after then. Broadly, we use N400 to talk about a large response that peaks "in that time window" (so, from 300-500ms). I wouldn't get too fixated on the specific milliseconds. Therefore you don't "use" the amplitude for anything (not sure I understood that part of your question).
Typically you see N400 over central-parietal electrodes. There is a bit of confusion over exactly what the cortical sources are but MEG and fMRI do support the idea it's a strong dipole with the positive component slightly in the LH and therefore EEG electrodes over central and parietal sites pick up the strongest signal. This also gets at what you use as your reference electrode because EEG potentials are differential and the patterns you see on the head are very dependent on reference / ground settings.
Typically you would group electrodes over general position and look at central-parietal ones or you could plot individual responses (both ways would still show the N400). As with anything in science, it's up to you what you show.


To want, to feel, and to think, also known as conation, emotion, and cognition are the three basic categories that psychology is traditionally concerned with. The term conation as far as I know is rather outdated (see Winch, 1909), whereas motivation is the newer term for the "drive to act".

As usual within psychology, the term "conation" is not used consistently. However, even when motivation and conation are given distinct meanings, the terms are still closely related to each other (e.g. Reitan & Wolfson, 2000).

To sum up, the concept of (free) will is a subcategory of motivation/conation whereas sibling categories are interest or desire.

References

Reitan, R. M., & Wolfson, D. (2000). Conation: A Neglected Aspect of Neuropsychological Functioning. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 15(5), 443–453. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6177(99)00043-8

Winch, W. H. (1909). Conation and Mental Activity. II. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 6(19), 505–514. https://doi.org/10.2307/2012061


Jung's Anima and Neurological Basis in Split-Brain Patients; Left-Persona and Right-Anima

Perhaps a more useful way of looking at these concepts is to consider anima in terms of the hindbrain, which takes sensory inputs from both the body and external stimuli and creates a virtual model strongly colored by memories ( with associated feelings) and our conditioning. This model is then "presented" to the forebrain as images + feelings. Animus could be seen then as associated with the forebrain, which analyzes this information and determines what actions to take.

However, such a way of thinking degenderizes the concepts, so won't support your hypothesis.

Solms and Turnbull have written about the neuroscience (Solms & Turnbull 2011) [among others], and James Hillman's "Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion" is a good source on anima and animus. Hillman agrees that psychology should not pretend to be an objective science as the realm of the psyche eludes traditional methods of scientific study.

References

Solms, M., & Turnbull, O. H. (2011). What is neuropsychoanalysis?.  Neuropsychoanalysis, 13(2), 133-145.
DOI: 10.1080/15294145.2011.10773670 [Free PDF Available]


Upwards of what d' values constitute "good" sensitivity?

There is no standard definition for a "good" value of d'. The index of sensitivity d' can be related to percent correct under certain conditions (unbiased observer, equal probability of signal and no signal trials, and a single observation). Under these conditions values of d' of 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 equate to a probability of correct of 0.69, 0.77, 0.84, and 0.89, respectively.

Historically, "threshold" was often defined as a probability of correct of 0.75. This is the midpoint of the psychometric function and in a yes/no task and the point with the steepest slope. With the transformed up-down method (Levitt, 1971) it is much easier to track a a probability of correct of 0.707 or 0.794, than a probability of correct of 0.75. These equate roughly to a d' of 1 and 1.5. Things got messier as people switched to 2-interval 2-AFC paradigms.

Another way to think about this is that the index of sensitivity d' is essentially the same thing as Cohen's d. Cohen (1988) proposed that values of Cohen's d of 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 were small, medium, and large effects, respectively. Again, there is no obvious mapping of "good" onto small, medium, and large.


How is the focal point determined when looking into a clear sky?

Accommodation is the process where the lens in the eye changes shape to focus on an object. The eyes have a default accommodation distance, called the resting point of accommodation (RPA). The RPA is the distance at which the eyes focus when there is nothing to focus on. The RPA is not identical to the acommodation state of the eye when focusing at infinity. Instead, the RPA can be measured in total darkness. There, the eyes' focal distance will equal the RPA after accommodation is complete. If the lights were then turned on, an object placed at that distance would be in clear focus. The RPA averages 30 inches (approximately 760 mm) for younger people and gets farther away with age (source: D. Ankrum).

The RPA can be measured by using infrared optometry, which is a non-invasive technique to measure the refractive state of the eye and the accommodation (Roorda et al., 1998).

Reference
- Roorda et al., Vis Res (1998); 38(13): 1913–24


Is there a name for having an obsessive interest in new topics for short periods of time?

That's great that you have this ability -- it's your "special power".

I don't believe there is a special term for "intense preoccupations with narrow subjects", but such behavior is a common, but not necessary, feature of Asperger Syndrome or AD.

AD does occur more often in men than women. According to this paper, prevalence in men is between 2-4X greater than in women.


What tools are available for EEG analysis on the R platform?

Antoine Tremblay has just released an advanced analysis toolbox: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.12299/abstract

It's missing about half the features on your list, although fundamentally, spectral density is a simple task and LORETA is a stand-alone package anyways (although similar approaches, e.g. general CSD estimation, are implemented in many packages). Basically, once you got the EEG data read into R and cleaned of artifacts, ERPs (simple averaging) and spectra are fairly basic tasks and LORETA is an external toolbox agnostic of where it's getting its data from.

Alternatively, I would propose to use either one of the two standard MATLAB-based solutions (EEGLAB or Fieldtrip), or MNE in one of its iterations (e.g. the one in Python). All of these will handle the tasks you're talking about.


Can asking a leading question in a poll change the opinion of the
  respondent?

Yes, apparantly everyone is susceptible to leading questions.

  Conside rable attention has been devoted to suggestive questions and its
  effects. Experimental research by Elizabeth F. Loftus, an American
  psychologist and an expert on human memory, has established that
  trying to answer such questions can create confabulation in
  eyewitnesses.[8] Loftus conducted and experiment where participants
  all viewed the same video clip of a car crash. Participants were then
  assigned at random in one of two groups. Group one was asked, "How
  fast was the car moving when it passed by the stop sign?" The
  participants in the other group are asked a similar question that does
  not refer to a stop sign. The results showed participants from the
  first group are more likely to remember seeing a stop sign in the
  video clip, even though there was in fact no such sign.[9] Elizabeth
  Loftus stated that everyone is affected by suggestive questioning, and
  it comes from environmental factors instead of innate factors, meaning
  that everyone is affected by suggestive questioning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suggestive_question

Less educated people are more affected:

  One of the most common formats used in survey questions is the
  “agree-disagree” format. In this type of question, respondents are
  asked whether they agree or disagree with a particular statement.
  Research has shown that, compared with the better educated and better
  informed, less educated and less informed respondents have a greater
  tendency to agree with such statements. This is sometimes called an
  “acquiescence bias” (since some kinds of respondents are more likely
  to acquiesce to the assertion than are others). A better practice is
  to offer respondents a choice between alternative statements. A Pew
  Research Center experiment with one of its routinely asked values
  questions illustrates the difference that question format can make.
  Not only does the forced choice format yield a very different result
  overall from the agree-disagree format, but the pattern of answers
  among better- and lesser-educated respondents also tends to be very
  different.

http://www.pewresearch.org/methodology/u-s-survey-research/questionnaire-design/

Children are the most susceptible:

  Children are particularly susceptible to leading questions and are
  more likely to take the lead for an answer from an adult.  Something
  simple like, ‘Did you have a good day at school?’ points the child
  towards thinking about good things that happened at school.  By
  asking, ‘How was school today?’ you are not asking for any judgement
  about how good or bad the day has been and you are more likely to get
  a more balanced, accurate answer.   This can shape the rest of the
  conversation, the next question may be, ‘What did you do at school?’
  - the answer to this may vary based on the first question you asked – good things or just things.
  http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/question-types.html

Examples of leading questions:

  With an assumption: "How late do you think that the project will deliver?". This assumes that the project will certainly not be
  completed on time.
  By adding a personal appeal to agree at the end: "Lori's very efficient, don't you think?" or "Option 2 is better, isn't it?"
  Phrasing the question so that the "easiest" response is "yes" (our natural tendency to prefer to say "yes" than "no" plays an important
  part in the phrasing of referendum questions): "Shall we all approve
  Option 2?" is more likely to get a positive response than "Do you want
  to approve option 2 or not?". A good way of doing this is to make it
  personal. For example, "Would you like me to go ahead with Option 2?"
  rather than "Shall I choose Option 2?".
  Giving people a choice between two options, both of which you would be happy with, rather than the choice of one option or not doing
  anything at all. Strictly speaking, the choice of "neither" is still
  available when you ask "Which would you prefer of A or B", but most
  people will be caught up in deciding between your two preferences.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_88.htm

A humourous example of the phenomenon can be found in the British sitcom Yes Prime Minister:

http://mktresearch.org/wiki/Ordering_the_Questions_in_the_Questionnaire


How exactly does alcohol consumption damage dendrites?

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke%E2%80%93Korsakoff_syndrome#Alcohol-thiamine_interactions

  Strong evidence suggests that ethanol interferes directly with
  thiamine uptake in the gastrointestinal tract. Ethanol also disrupts
  thiamine storage in the liver and the transformation of thiamine into
  its active form.[20] The role of alcohol consumption in the
  development of WKS has been experimentally confirmed through studies
  in which rats were subjected to alcohol exposure and lower levels
  thiamine through a low-thiamine diet.[21] In particular, studies have
  demonstrated that clinical signs of the neurological problems that
  result from thiamine deficiency develop faster in rats that have
  received alcohol and were also deficient in thiamine than rats who did
  not receive alcohol.[21] In another study, it was found that rats that
  were chronically fed alcohol had significantly lower liver thiamine
  stores than control rats. This provides an explanation for why
  alcoholics with liver cirrhosis have a higher incidence of both
  thiamine deficiency and WKS.[20]

[20] Todd, K. G., Hazell, A. S., & Butterworth, R. F. (1999). Alcohol thiamine interactions: an update on the pathogenesis of wernicke encephalopathy. Addiction Biology, 4, 261-272.

[21] He, X., Sullivan, E. V., Stankovic, R. K., Harper, C. G., & Pfefferbaum, A. (2007). Interaction of thiamine deficiency and voluntary alcohol consumption disrupts rat corpus collosum ultrastructure. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 2207-2216.

but this is of course over a long period.

for just one instance, there's no scientifical evidence AFAIK


This sort of thinking is called theory of mind (not to be confused with theories of how the mind works).

It's not entirely clear whether theory of mind is a discrete ability or a spectrum, but tasks requiring higher-order theorizing tend to be more difficult and are more likely to be lost to dysfunction:

  Cognitive theory of mind is further separated into first order (e.g., I think she thinks that…) and second order (e.g., he thinks that she thinks that…)

I'm not aware of a specific term that distinguishes second-order theory of mind when the second-order person is in fact the first-person rather than a third-person (e.g., "she thinks that I think that...").


Is dissociative identity disorder a medical condition or artifact of psychotherapy?

Dissociative identity disorder is a medical condition .

Dissociative Identity Disorder is listed in the DSM-V.

  H 02 Dissociative Identity Disorder
  1.    Disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality states or an experience of possession. This involves
  marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied
  by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory,
  perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning. These signs
  and symptoms may be observed by others or reported by the individual.
  2.    Recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events that are inconsistent with
  ordinary forgetting.
  3.    The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
  4.    The disturbance is not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice. (Note: In children, the symptoms are not
  attributable to imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.)
  5.    The symptoms are not attributable to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during
  Alcohol Intoxication) or another medical condition (e.g., complex
  partial seizures).

I have not found any recent case control studies.

I have found this paper reviewing the research from 2004-2006. Here childhood trauma, dissociation and psychosis are discussed and a study on the relationship between Schizophrenia and DID is discussed.

Dissociative identity disorder
Colin A. Ross MD
September 2006, Volume 4, Issue 3, pp 112-116
Current Psychosis and Therapeutics Reports

One issue with diagnosing personality disorders, is that the boundaries between them and other conditions can be blurred.  So a person can have traits of several disorders/illnesses, and will be diagnosed with the one that is the best fit.

  Personality disorders often co-occur with other mental illnesses.
  Harmful alcohol and other drug use often co-occurs with personality
  disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder. This makes
  treatment more complex, and effectively managing alcohol and other
  drug use is important.

Mental Health
 Publications
Department of Health and Ageing
Australian Government

  Although dissociative phenomena have been discussed throughout the
  20th century, the recognition of dissociative disorders as a bona fide
  diagnostic category is relatively recent. Nonetheless, the evidence
  linking attachment in infancy and attachment-related traumas to later
  dissociative symptoms, and the evidence linking concurrent states of
  mind with dissociative symptoms, converge to form a compelling
  picture.

Attachment and psychopathology in adulthood.
Dozier, Mary; Stovall-McClough, K. Chase; Albus, Kathleen E.
Cassidy, Jude (Ed); Shaver, Phillip R. (Ed), (2008). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.).

The following is my personal ideas and conclusions about this topic; based on much personal research, formalised study and personal experience (of close relationship with a person with DID). see references below

It is an accepted practice that dissociation can occur and that there is a connection between childhood trauma (usually in the form of abuse). A healthy personality has multiple aspects and personas. The aspects are brought out during various life situations. From happy experiences, loss, stress; we see different traits of a personality surface. So it would follow that someone with extreme trauma and disruption to personality development, could have a fragmented personality, that changes under varying conditions.

The perception would be that the person has multiple personalities, which is a misnomer, in so much, that we are dealing with one individual with multiple states of consciousness and persona. Amnesia that results from the  protective nature of the mind to protect the individual from trauma, with the stress and varying attitudes and roles that a child is forced to play to minimise damage in an abusive environment; acting out in response to coping with extreme trauma. This concoction would well produce a personality that would appear to "flip" and change,  one of extremes, and with featured amnesia from one coping state to another.

I think Dissociative States Disorder would be a better name for this condition. As the Hollywood interpretation is one of extremes, and as Autism has a spectrum, (as many illnesses), so do Dissociative  Disorders.

As for treatment, I don't believe it is possible for a person to fully recover from such a condition. There are just not enough years available to the human life to do so. When dealing with such extreme and prolonged trauma, it is most difficult for the patient to acknowledge consciously the source of the dissociation and overcome major trust issues to open up. Combined with the fact that damaged child, become damaged adults, who then make poor choices, that compounds poor mental health; this is a difficult condition to minister help.

Dissociation and childhood trauma in psychologically disturbed adolescents.
Sanders, Barbara; Giolas, Marina H.
The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 148(1), Jan 1991, 50-54

Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 2000 April; 2(2): 37–41.
PMCID: PMC181202
Dissociative Spectrum Disorders in the Primary Care Setting
James L. Elmore, M.D.

Interpersonal functioning among women reporting a history of childhood sexual abuse: empirical findings and methodological issues
David DiLilloCorresponding author
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA


What happens in your brain when you see a dinosaur in this stenographic image?

The source I have quoted below gives an example of the following stenographic image:-

Is this perception a particular trick that my eye performs or is it processing the visual data in an alternative way?

  Stereograms can be viewed as three-dimensional images by providing two
  side-by-side views of a three-dimensional scene, rendered from
  slightly different viewpoints. Stereoscopes facilitate focusing of the
  eyes depths other than the surface of a two-dimensional stereogram
  image, allowing the two separate images to overlap in the center of
  the field of vision (Kimmel, 2002). Once the correct depth is
  achieved, it may seem to the viewer as if the two images are different
  due to the horizontal retinal disparities. Then the two images can
  fuse into a coherent three- dimensional percept where horizontal
  disparities in the images provide important depth cues.

Is the effect of this percept measurable by an EEG?

  Autostereograms have been used in recent research to investigate
  three-dimensional depth perception. These efforts have improved
  understanding of the various visual cues involved in forming
  three-dimensional percepts, perceiving motion in depth, attention-
  switching in the depth of field, and the neural correlates of forming
  and maintaining a unified three-dimensional structure in awareness.

  Revonsuo and colleagues (Revonsuo, et al., 1997) used neural
  synchronization to investigate the neural correlates of
  three-dimensional percept formations. They confirmed that
  autostereoscopic perception is primarily mediated by right
  parieto-temporal activity. Their research indicated a region of
  synchrony spanning portions of the right temporal, parietal and
  occipital lobes, with maximum power in the gamma (36-44Hz) frequency
  range. Also employing electroencephalogram (EEG) recording, Burgess,
  Rehman, and Williams (2003) located particular brain regions,
  including the left frontal (F7) and the right and midline occipital
  (Oz, O2) clusters, exhibiting functional clustering during
  autostereoscopic perception. Overall, neural complexity was highest
  with the most functional clustering of responses during observer
  awareness of the three-dimensional object. Additional clustering
  analyses revealed functional clusters of scalp recordings in the
  aforementioned areas that correlated with both phases of
  three-dimensional perception (search to three-dimensional and
  three-dimensional maintenance).

Sources

Autostereograms and Autostereoscopic Perception
Authors: Leslie Blaha, Christopher Honey, and Eric Nichols
Date: October 31, 2005
Burgess, A.P., Rehman, J., & Williams, J.D. (2003). Changes in neural complexity during the perception of three-dimensional images using random dot stereograms. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 48, 35-42.
Kimmel, R. (2002). Three-dimensional shape reconstruction from autostereograms and stereo. Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation, 13, 324-333.


Déjà vu seems to match what you describe.
There are various possible explanations though they are a bit difficult to test since you can't readily activate the feeling in a lab setting. One of them is the idea that in the process of encoding a memory of the event it is simultaneously and erroneously "recalled".


What is a sensorimotor connection in plain English?

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the word sensorimotor to be:

of, relating to, or functioning in both sensory and motor aspects of bodily activity

and the following relating to the tags you used may help to understand the word.

The idea that we learn by interacting with our environment is probably the first to occur to us when we think about the nature of learning. When an infant plays, waves its arms, or looks about, it has no explicit teacher, but it does have a direct sensorimotor connection to its environment (Sutton & Barto, 2005)

As Merriam Webster points out, the sensorimotor connections are related to sensation and to motion
Dictionary.com points out that physiologically, they relate to

both sensory and motor, as parts of the cerebral cortex.

The sensorimotor connection to your environment taught you what an object looks, feels, smells and sounds like and helps with your spacial awareness.
References
Sutton, R. S. & Barto, A. G. (2005). Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction Cambridge, MA: MIT Press


Feeling as though you have seen a face before is perfectly normal. It may reflect actual similarities between the new face and the face you have seen before. There are people who genuinely look like each other, an example being celebrity look-a-likes. It may also reflect a commonly observed cultural/ethnic effect where people of a different ethnicity look more similar (Meissner & Bringham, 2001).

In terms of what happens in the brain, besides processing by the basic visual system (LGN, V1), the ventral visual pathway and areas associated with object and face recognition are involved with identifying the face. Particularly, these three core regions show space-specific responses: fusiform gyrus, lateral inferior occipital gyri , and posterior superior temporal sulcus (Haxby et al., 2000; 2001).

  A model of the distributed human neural system for face perception (Image from Haxby et al., 2000.)

There is ongoing debate that the fusiform area plays a broader role in that of visual expertise, rather than just face perception (Gaulthier et al., 2000; Xu, 2005). Although less is known about temporal aspects of face processing, this is starting to be the focus of newer studies such as Zheng et al., 2012.

I haven't found any known explanation but if you feel that the way you perceive similarity in faces is not normal, then you may be interested in reading about false facial recognition problems following brain damage (*Rapcsak et al., 1996) or (slightly different) misidentification syndromes (Hudson & Grace, 1999; Breen et al., 2000).

*Unfortunately I could not access this article to summarize it.

References

Breen, N., Caine, D., Coltheart, M. (2000). Models of face recognition and delusional misidentification: A critical review. Cognitive Neuropsychology. 17(1/2/3):55-71.
Gauthier, I., Skudlarski, P.,  Gore, J. C.,  Anderson, A. W. (2000). Expertise for cars and birds recruits brain areas involved in face recognition. Nature Neuroscience 3:191-197.
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., Gobinni M. I. (2000). The distributed neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4(6):223-233.
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., Gobinni M. I. (2001). Human neural systems for face recognition and social communication. Biological Psychology, 51(1):59-67.
Hudson, A. J., Grace, G. M. (1999). Misidentification syndromes related to face specific area in the fusiform gyrus. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 69(5):645-648.
Meissner, C. A.; Brigham, J. C. (2001). Thirty years of investigating the own-race bias in memory for faces: A meta-analytic review. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7(1):3-35.
Rapcsak S. Z., Polster M. R., Glisky M. L., Comer J. F. False recognition of unfamiliar faces following right hemisphere damage: neuropsychological and anatomical observations. Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior. 32(4):593-611.
Xu, Yaoda. (2005). Revisiting the role of the fusiform face area in visual expertise. Cereb Cortex. 15(8):1234-1242.
Zheng, X., . Mondloch, C. J.,  Segalowitz, S. J. (2012). The timing of individual face recognition in the brain. Neuropsychologia, 50(7):1451-1461.


What is the psychology behind addictive video games?

People play games for different reasons - check out the Bartle test which describes some motivations behind actions in games, particularly multiplayer RPGs.

I've written an ebook on video game addiction, and will attempt to illustrate factors that contribute to a game being "addictive".

There are a few types of most addictive video games

Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPG like World of Warcraft)
Competitive shooters. (like Call of Duty or World of Tanks)
"Build and steal" strategy games (like Clash of Clans)
Purely social/achievement driven games (like FarmVille)

For example World of Warcraft, has been described as a "theme park MMORPG" - playera can do a variety of activities and if they get bored, they can do something else. The social component is a big part of a person wanting to return to this kind of games.

Then there are shooter games that are played in short matches, for example World of Tanks, War Thunder. Games like these depend on persistent RPG character progression to artificially create inequality among players. For example in a 32 player tank you can be driving the weakest tank, pretty much being prey for everyone else. This creates a feeling of "this is unfair!"

Part of the addictive nature of these games is that player is forced to "grind" - play the game over and over again, frequently without any enjoyment. This is a way to get better tanks/planes/guns/etc.

The way "grinding" is done in competitive games is by playing short matches (3-7 minutes), typically very adrenaline driven engagements. Once an engagement is over, a player is left in a state of imbalance - the player wants to experience the rush of victory again or is dissatisfied with defeat and wants to win instead. It's difficult to get off this cycle, which is why such games are called addictive. A player can spend entire day doing these short matches while looking forward to a more powerful tank/plane/gun/etc.

In some ways, this random element with inequality and short matches can be compared to a casino slot machine on steroids. Instead of pulling the handle, a player presses the "Battle" button, which is results in the player placed in a random battle.

Finally there are a number of simple "build and steal" kind of games, like Clash of Clans (smart phone games). A player builds a settlement, but resources are very scarce. A player is encouraged to steal resources by raiding neighboring settlements.  These games also thrive on the feeling of inequality among players The inequality gap between players can be lessened by paying real money - "Pay to Win (P2W)" model.**

"Pay to Win" is very much like gambling, and companies like Apple and Clash of Clans developers are taking heat for allowing 12 year olds spend real money in games to cover the inequality. It has been calculated that to buy everything in a game like Clash of Clans, a person would have to spend 11000 $$USD or close to a year of real time waiting for the resources to build up (all the while being raided by stronger players). Top of the line planes or tanks can cost up to 200$.

Once real money are invested, different mechanics come to play - it's hard to abandon a game where you invested hundreds of hours or dollars.

Most of this post is based on my own observations and analysis, as there isn't much mainstream interest in understanding the addictive nature of video games.


Is positive self-talk beneficial for those with low self-esteem?

Just to be clear, Wood et al (2009) summarise their propositions on page 861:

  Thus, we propose that positive self-statements have the potential to
  make one feel worse if they lie outside one’s latitude of acceptance,
  are self-discrepant and thereby highlight one’s failures to meet one’s
  standards, and arouse self-verification motives. We further propose
  that positive self-statements are especially likely to backfire for
  the very people they are meant to benefit: people with low
  self-esteem. Such people, by definition, see themselves as failing to
  meet standards in more domains or in more important domains than do
  people with high self-esteem. Moreover, self-verification motives
  should bias people with low self-esteem to reject positive
  self-statements, but encourage people with high self-esteem to
  accept them.

In the literature review, Wood et al cite several articles related to attitude formation and self-relevant feedback. They mention one particular study, where

  Eisenstadt and Leippe (1994) asked participants to identify a trait
  they would like to possess but believed they lacked. When Eisenstadt
  and Leippe later told participants that they actually did possess that
  ideal trait, participants felt worse, rather than better.

References

Eisenstadt, D., & Leippe, M.R. (1994). The self-comparison process
and self-discrepant feedback: Consequences of learning you are
what you thought you were not. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 67, 611–626.
Wood, J., Elaine Perunovic, W., & Lee, J. (2009). Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others Psychological Science DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02370.x


What Field of Behaviorial Psychology Deals with Technology? How the Application of Pyschology can Improve Something Like Computers

What you are looking for is not so much a 'sub-field', as they are cross-disciplinary fields of researchers who borrow from different fields, including computer science and psychology.

Human factors:

  Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. The goal of human factors is to reduce human error, increase productivity, and enhance safety and comfort with a specific focus on the interaction between the human and the thing of interest.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI):

  Human–computer interaction (HCI) studies the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. Researchers in the field of HCI observe the ways in which humans interact with computers and design technologies that let humans interact with computers in novel ways. As a field of research, human–computer interaction is situated at the intersection of computer science, behavioural sciences, design, media studies, and several other fields of study.

We have a hci tag on this site.

Information science:

  Practitioners within and outside the field study application and usage of knowledge in organizations along with the interaction between people, organizations, and any existing information systems with the aim of creating, replacing, improving, or understanding information systems. Historically, information science is associated with computer science, psychology, technology and intelligence agencies.


What degree of control do we have on eye movements?

Short answer
We have a lot of control over our eye movements, including saccades. We can suppress saccades and make an anti-saccade instead. So can monkeys, our close cousins. Children have a lot more difficulty with the anti-saccade task, however.
Background
Saccades are fast eye movements, as opposed to the slower smooth-pursuit responses of the eye (Purves, 2001). Saccades are generally initiated when a visual target appears suddenly in our field of view. They can be made either voluntarily, or involuntarily. Once initiated, a saccade cannot be interrupted (source: Brown University). However, a saccade can be suppressed before it is executed. This can be investigated with the anti-saccade task (Munoz & Everling, 2004). In this task, the subject is instructed to look away from a suddenly appearing target and make an eye movement to the opposite side. This is difficult. However, humans can do it, and even monkeys can be trained on the task, although kids are reported to have a lot of difficulty with it. Anti-saccades have a longer delay than saccades, and have a larger margin of error in terms of the accuracy of putting the 'anti-target' on the fovea of the retina. Many of the anti-saccades are preceded by an (unintentionally initiated) pro-saccade, where the subject focuses on the target first, before making the intended eye movement to the opposite side.
References
- Munoz & Everling, Nature Rev Neurosci (2004); 5: 218–28
- Purves et al. (eds). Neuroscience 2nd ed. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates (2001). Types of Eye Movements and Their Functions


Why do most people laugh with a "ha" sound?

Since this question has been unanswered for quite some time I will try to provide an acceptable approximation to an answer. Excuses beforehand for the many block quotes but it is not my area of expertise. The quotes are from a revealing article by Provine (1996).

As commented on by others, laughter can be specified better by their actual sound then by the written word (for a nice link on the bewildering variety of written laughter: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=419591). Spectral analysis of laughter in the lab showed that it is

  [...] characterized by a series of short vowel like notes (syllables), each about 75 milliseconds long, that are repeated at regular intervals about 210 milliseconds apart. A specific vowel sound does not define laughter, but similar vowel sounds are typically used for the notes of a given laugh. For example, laughs have the structure of "ha-ha-ha" or "ho ho-ho," but not "ha-ho-ha-ho."

And

  The Stereotypic structure of a laugh is, at least in part, a result of the limitations of our vocal apparatus.

The fake laughters may indeed be different, for example fake crying is also very challenging. Emotionless laughing is also characterized by different facial expressions.

As to where laughter comes from it is important to note

  [...] that chimpanzees and other great apes perform a laugh-like vocalization when tickled or during play. [...] Breathy, panting laughter is probably the primal form that dates back to the common ancestor of all great apes and people. Human beings evolved their characteristic laughter after branching from an ancestor in common with chimpanzees (estimated to be around six million years ago, according to DNA hybridization data).

Laughter will, however, undoubtedly be affected by your surroundings, since

  Laughter is a decidedly social signal, not an egocentric expression of emotion.

Hence, laughter is born out of an interplay of nature (evolution and restricions imposed by the vocal apparatus) and nurture (social setting).

Reference
Provine. Laughter. Am Sci 1996;84:38-45


Does "hearing" give off an electronic signal?

No there isn't any output for these bones other than mechanically pushing against the oval window.

In short:

Sound waves travel through the ear canal.
They hit the ear drum (Tympanic membrane).
The three bones (ossicles) in our middle ear are simply an impedance matching device (very much like gears on bicycles). They amplify the ear drum movement with the Stapes pushing against the oval window (part of the inner ear).
The mechanical movement of the stapes against the oval window causes liquid within the Cochlea to oscillate.
Within the Cochlea there are tiny hair cells that discharge (snap) in response to a specific frequency/amplitude (See this answer).
When discharge, a nerve pulse is sent to our brain.


How much our visual limitations are instrument(eye)-based, and how much are they brain-based?

My understanding is that the eyes are actually quite poor in terms of providing the brain with a clean image. Perhaps the only areas where eyes are better than cameras are with simultaneously viewing light and dark together (high-contrast), being quite fast at focusing, and being able to see reasonably in low-light. Each eye has a full-on blind spot, and the ability to see colours in the periphery is quite limited. Almost everything about our clean visual perception is a result of the brain's compensatory mechanisms -- such as filling in holes and choosing colours based on memories.

Although an unscientific perspective, when I dream, I can see clearly not only in the centre but also in my periphery. Moreover, my vision does not have the static-like overlay in my dreams like it does in real life. (I am often consciously aware when I am dreaming, wherein I have done various tests in my dreams) Hence, my guess is that the brain is capable of handling a fair bit more data than the eyes provide.

When you consider all the people born with abnormalities, and when you consider the array of change that your body goes through during development all the way through old age, it should be capable of handling all sorts of unnatural situations. Even looking at a computer screen and understanding the idea of windows being behind other windows and the idea of a webpage being like a long scroll for which you can see only a part of it are rather unnatural. Many of those brought up before the time of computers have a great deal of difficulty understanding the virtual realm that resides inside the screen (of computers, smartphones, and other modern gadgets).

The concentration of receptors is vastly greater near the centre of visual fixation. While I doubt the brain could handle seeing in full definition in the periphery, it could probably handle quite a bit more than it currently does. I do believe the brain could handle mentally focusing on multiple regions simultaneously. I can focus mentally on three or four areas of my periphery at once, despite the image being quite unclear. At the same time, the brain has limited capacity. For example, they say that the human brain can handle tracking up to 60 moving objects within something like 30deg of visual field. If we could see all the way around us at once, I imagine it would be quite demanding of our attention -- but I am sure we could grow to become accustomed to it.


Are there any good experiments on the phenomenon of processing inverted text?

This is probably the place to start:

Poldrack, Russell A., et al. "The neural basis of visual skill learning: an fMRI study of mirror reading." Cerebral Cortex 8.1 (1998): 1-10.
APA

  What are the underlying mechanisms hypothesized by the quoted papers in processing such text?

"Multiple regions in the occipital
lobe, inferior temporal cortex, superior parietal cortex and
cerebellum were involved in the reading of mirror-reversed
compared to normally oriented text. For novel stimuli, skilled
mirror-reading was associated with decreased activation in the right
superior parietal cortex and posterior occipital regions and
increased activation in the left inferior temporal lobe. These results
suggest that learning to read mirror-reversed text involves a
progression from visuospatial transformation to direct recognition of
transformed letters. Reading practiced, relative to unpracticed,
stimuli was associated with decreased activation in occipital visual
cortices, inferior temporal cortex and superior parietal cortex and
increased activation in occipito-parietal and lateral temporal
regions. By examining skill learning and item-specific repetition
priming in the same task, this study demonstrates that both of these
forms of learning exhibit shifts in the set of neural structures that
contribute to performance."

  Does there seem to be any evidence of rule-based processing?

Yes:

"Mirror-reading skill is letter-specific rather than being a
general visual transformation skill"


What causes Capgras ("imposter") Syndrome?

There have been many proposed explanations for the condition. The explanation which seems to have gained traction states that an individual with Capgras syndrome experiences a "disconnect" between the part of the brain that recognizes faces and the part of the brain that processes emotion. Thus, the person may see someone who looks like his brother, but does not experience the feelings of familiarity, love, etc. associated with the brother (Ramachandran, 1998). In an effort to make sense of this, the person constructs a delusion that the brother has been replaced by a duplicate.

There have been studies which have found Capgras patients have reduced physiological responses associated with emotional reactions when looking at all faces, even for people they do not believe to be duplicants (Ellis, Young, Quayle, & De Pauw, 1997); the authors proposed that the delusion is only constructed for loved ones because of the intensity of the emotional reaction expected during those encounters. Interestingly, individuals with Capgras syndrome often retain appropriate emotional responses to hearing the voice of the loved one (Ellis et al., 1997; Ramachandran, 1998) and can experience a range of emotions, indicating the issues is specific to visual-emotional processing.

The reason for this proposed disconnect is not clear (Brighetti, Bonifacci, Borlimi, & Ottaviani, 2007; Edelstyn & Oyebode, 1999). Some have suggested it is a disconnected between "processing streams" in the brain (Ellis & Lewis, 2001). This theory proposes that normal face processing occurs when information from the visual cortex is filtered through two different paths in the brain. One path allows for recognition of faces, while the other path allows for recognition of emotional responses. When the input from both paths is accurate, the person correctly identifies the person they see and has the appropriate reaction to that person. If the emotional path is damaged, the person does not experience the expected emotion and so attributes this reaction to the person being replaced. (This model also proposes that if the emotional component is intact but the "face recognition component" is damaged, the person will experience prosopagnosia, also called "face blindness.") Ellis & Lewis (2001) provide a nice overview of the research that led to this model. A slightly different model proposes a disconnect between the visual areas in the temporal lobes of the brain and how emotion is processed in the amygdala, but does not propose a two-path approach (Ramachandran, 1998).

While most studies focus on a unidirectional explanation for the delusion (e.g., the neurological issue leads the person to create the delusion as an explanation), Young (2008) proposed that the two processes actually interact with a feedback loop. In this model, first the person doesn't experience the expected emotion and constructs the delusion to cope; however, their strong belief feeds back to their perceptual experience so they actually begin to see the person as an impostor. That perception then feeds back into the delusion, strengthening it. Young argues this is why the delusion is so difficult to challenge (2008).

References

•   Brighetti, G., Bonifacci, P., Borlimi, R., & Ottaviani, C. (2007). “Far from the heart far from the eye”: evidence from the Capgras delusion. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12(3), 189-197.

•   Edelstyn, N. M. J., & Oyebode, F. (1999). A review of the phenomenology and cognitive neuropsychological origins of the Capgras syndrome. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, (14), 48-59.

•   Ellis, H. D., & Lewis, M. B. (2001). Capgras delusion: a window on face recognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(4), 149-156.

•   Ellis, H. D., Young, A. W., Quayle, A. H., & De Pauw, K. W. (1997). Reduced autonomic responses to faces in Capgras delusion. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 264(1384), 1085-1092.

•   Ramachandran, V. S. (1998). Consciousness and body image: lessons from phantom limbs, Capgras syndrome and pain asymbolia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 353(1377), 1851-1859.

•   Young, G. (2008). Capgras delusion: an interactionist model. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(3), 863-876.

Additional Reading

•   Young, G. (2007). Clarifying" familiarity": Examining differences in the phenomenal experiences of patients suffering from prosopagnosia and capgras delusion. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 14(1), 29-37.

•   Young, A. W., Leafhead, K. M., & Szulecka, T. K. (1994). The
Capgras and Cotard delusions. Psychopathology, 27(3-5), 226-231.


Effect of time limits on problem solving

This ted talk video would probably interest you.

It seems the current understanding is that it would depend on both the individual, and the type of task they are performing. Here are the general tendencies I've seen/been taught.

For physical tasks or tasks where the important factor is strength and effort, time constraints and rewards tend to increase the pace at which someone finishes the task. A simple example is track and field, where the contestants are generally able to perform better with the added pressure/motivation of the competition. No records are made in practice.

For more mental and creative tasks, time constraints and rewards tend to diminish one's ability to finish a task. For instance, musicians rarely make great music when they are told they have to.

Both of the above situations however, can be affected by the person completing the task. If youlook at sporting events with very tense situations, there is an understanding that some players "rise to the occasion" and some "shrink under pressure." One's anxiety level and self confidence will affect the psychology of how they approach a task, which will certainly affect the result of that task.


(This isn't a complete answer, as I'm not in a position to comment on the neuroscience, but it should provide some useful background for anyone else who is interested in Peters' work.)
While The Chimp Model is based on psychology, is not intended to be an accurate nor detailed representation of the science. Rather, it is a conceptual framework that can be used to help people think about and change their behaviour. It provides a metaphor that can help coaches and individuals who want to know a bit more about the way their minds work, and enable them to make changes based on what they have learned. The idea is that it will help people use the science, but is not the science itself.
(Compare this to the idea that atoms are little coloured balls: that isn't an accurate representation of modern physics, but it is a useful way to think about many of the properties of matter in many practical situations)
The model divides the mind into three parts.

The Chimp. According to the model, this is an independent part of your mind that is not under your control. It works with feelings and impressions, and makes deductions using "emotional thinking".
The Human. This is the conscious, thinking, analytical part of your mind that operates on facts and can make logical deductions.
The Computer. This is the part of your mind that stores memories, skills and habits. It can do a certain amount of "automatic" thinking.

Peters' ideas are related to the ideas espoused by Daniel Kahneman in his book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow". In this book Kahneman posits that there are two systems at work in the human mind:

System 1, which is fast, instinctive and emotional. This system can perform
System 2, which is slower, more deliberative, and more logical

Kahneman's work is much closer to "proper" (i.e. academic) psychology than that of Peters, whose motivation is practical rather than scientific.
Both Peters and Kahneman are proponents of a school of thought known as "dual process theory".


Why superimposing PET data on MRI scan images instead of doing fMRI scans?

They used MRI to compare asymmetry in hemispheric volumes across the groups. Hemispheric volume is not something that is changing over time, and so it doesn't require the use of functional neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI).

Instead, if we want to be accurate when measuring volume and making comparisons across groups, we need to have high spatial resolution of the cerebral hemispheres. fMRI does not have the same degree of spatial resolution as MRI. Consequently, MRI is much better for studying anatomy, whereas fMRI is good for studying function (due to its relatively high temporal resolution).  So when imaging hemispheric volumes, MRI is better suited for the task.


How does the brain project pain on to a particular part of the body?

Short answer
Peripheral sensory information is projected unidirectionally to the brain. A sensory strip of the brain contains a topographical representation of the surface of the body that facilitates the localization of peripheral stimuli. Hence, there is no feedback from the brain to the periphery necessary to locate the source of a peripheral stimulus.

Background
The sensory systems in the skin project unidirectionally to the somatosensory cortex. In the somatosensory cortex there are so-called topographical maps. These maps contain the neurons that connect to different parts of the body. Typically, neurons receiving information from one part of the body are clustered together in the brain. For example, the sensory outputs of the peripheral touch receptors in the finger digits ultimately synapse onto cortical sensory neurons that are close together. Touch receptors in the toes for example are processed farther away (Purves et al, 2001). A famous graphical presentation is the somatosensory homunculus (Fig. 1), showing the areas of the sensory cortex devoted to processing sensory inputs in different bodily parts, including touch;

Fig. 1. Sensory homunculus. source: Russel & Dewy (2007)

The sensory cortex, hence, is a highly structured cortical area, in which sensory information (including outputs from touch, pain, heat and cold receptors for example) is funelled to a topographical representation in the brain. See for a nice introductory this video from Khan Academy.

To answer your question - there is no feedback from the brain back to the periphery necessary to process peripheral sensations into localized perceptions. The bodily map is maintained in the brain and contains all the information necessary to pinpoint the stimulus locus on the skin. This localization is more accurate when more peripheral fibers are present, i.e. when receptor density is higher. This is centrally reflected in the sensory strip in a larger area of the cortex being devoted to bodily parts with denser receptor innervation. This is the reason why the homunculus is so distorted (Fig. 2). For example, the lips, tongue and finger tips are highly sensitive and contain high densities of peripheral receptors. In effect, relatively large areas of the somatosensory cortex are dedicated to processing their inputs.

Fig. 2. 3D representation of the sensory homunculus. source: University of Calgary

Reference
- Purves et al., Neuroscience. 2nd ed. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates (2001)
- Russel & Dewey, Psychology: An Introduction (2007-2014)


What's the difference between computational neuroscience and systems neuroscience?

Systems neuroscience studies systems, such as the visual sensory system - from the light (input) to the cortical representation. Systems neuroscience generally implies an integrated approach that includes fundamental or basic neuroscience - the study of cellular and molecular functions of the nervous system(s) - and typically borders to behavioral or cognitive neuroscience.

Whereas cognitive neuroscience aims to explain the "biology of the mind" - for example, how is memory realized in the brain - systems neuroscience aims to explain how the brain works - for example, how does the brain give rise to vision.

Computational neuroscience is fundamentally a mathematical discipline that is realized using computers. It is used to both simulate (theoretical neuroscience) and validate in vivo and in vitro findings in silico. It includes the abstraction of general laws based (more or less) on empirical data. Generally, initial parameters are based on findings from basic neuroscience, which enables biophysically realistic models based on the functionality of neurons to be implemented. However, less realistic simplified models are often used to model neural networks that have an applied AI task. However, these models border to computer science and in particular AI and machine learning.

Neuroscience is a large field and there is a strong need to bridge the different disciplines that contribute to the science, not only through computational neuroscience, but also through neuroinformatics:

  The exponential growth of the data produced in neuroscience mean that
  computational approaches are fundamental to make sense of this information, including theoretical modelling and methods for large scale data analysis/integration that are capable  of handling and comparing data generated over such
  diverse timescales (e.g. synaptic versus  genetic  changes).  As  such,  quantitative  theoretical  neuroscience  must  be   gradually integrated with
  mainstream experimental neuroscience.
  —European Brain Council Consensus Statement - March 2016

In response to comment

"Basic neuroscience" requires an invasive study of neurons in order to study the molecular mechanisms of the cell - on the most basic level. That is why mostly animals are used in this type of study. (However, neuroanatomists also study human post-mortem brains, and molecular imaging can be used in humans, but on a different level of explanation - a whole-brain perspective - with less specificity of the causal mechanisms on the cellular level.) Molecular neuroscience studies, for example, the properties of different types of calcium channels. A famous computational model is the Hodgkin-Huxley model that is based on the study of aplysia. In this regard, basic neuroscience informs computational models that are bottom-up, but there are also top-down models that rely on pure psychology, and a range of models in-between.

N.B. I would be careful to use the term "exploratory", because this implies that the science proceeds without a hypothesis. That is rarely the case in the natural sciences, but some of the pioneering work is indeed exploratory.

I am a PhD student in Neuroscience working with humans. Some of my colleagues work with animals or cell cultures. One of my collaborators works in computational neuroscience and we are currently working on a new model together that we might be able to update based on the empirical findings in my lab. This type of collaboration is important, because the computational model "knows" more basic science, than I could possibly study in humans. That is why we can use computational models to test the limits of our findings - to test if our models of cognition are compatible with biophysical models, which are informed by principles derived from animal studies.


Does selfishness increase in periods of extreme anxiety

It is hard to argue that anxiety makes you more "selfish". Your definition of "extreme periods anxiety" is rather vague and hard to operationalize, same goes for selfishness in this context. The article you cited is not based on scientific literature but much rather a personal look on anxiety and selfishness. Therefore it is in no way conclusive evidence.

Anxiety is a natural body response to certain dangers. When anxiety becomes abnormal it can  be diagnosed as an Anxiety disorder (see DSM V for criteria for certain anxiety disorders). There has been a lot of research on General Anxiety Disorder (one of the anxiety disorders) and the worry-process. However, too my knowledge there are hardly any studies that describe individuals become more selfish. Like I said, this is also definition question. Certainly people with anxiety worry more and are more focused on the thoughts in their head. However, as far as I know there is no convincing evidence that people with strong anxiety do not care about others except for themselves. On the contrary some people with Anxiety disorders excessively call their loved ones to make sure that they are alright.

Further reading: Butcher, Hooley and Mineka, Abnormal Psychology 16th Edition, Chapter 6.


Do action potential thresholds vary in "capacity" significantly, and if so, does input frequency correspond to action potential thresholds?

The key to determining if depolarizing a neuron will result in an action potential is the threshold potential of the cell. The threshold potential is basically the voltage, around -55 mV, at which the Na+ channels open. A number of factors (covered in Wikipedia) affect the exact threshold potential.


Dual systems theory: in what sense are the systems 'unreal'?

What Kahneman means is that these are nothing but comparisons, or metaphors, to indirectly explain cognitive processing. Neither you nor I have physically seen these two systems exist, BUT the existence of such systems may be implicated through neural representations. Kahneman has used economic metaphors (concept of resources and their allocation) in his capacity model of attention (1973). (1)

The following excerpt from John B. Best's Cognitive Psychology, fifth edition (2) , might help. Here, he talks about the rationale behind using a metaphor (the information-processing or computer metaphor) in cognitive psychology:

  Because the information-processing viewpoint is necessarily abstract, why use it to study cognitive processes, especially when it might be possible to study the underlying neural processes directly? In other words, the students seem to suggest that we simply cut to the chase and study neural processes themselves. What stops us? Information-processing theories might argue that an abstract analysis is necessary because of discoverability problems at the neural level. It's true that specific relationships may always be discoverable between specific neural activities or locations, and particular cognitive or mental events... Despite this reservation, however, cognitive psychologists working in the information-processing tradition maintain that there are no guarantees that a general, discoverable neural representation inevitably underlies all specific cognitive events."

TL;DR: It's a metaphor, an indirect comparison to how cognitive processes occur, for ease of understanding.

1) There has been considerable debate regarding whether the concept of using strict, dichotomous systems is a good way to represent cognitive processing and why and how dual-process theories like Kahneman's fail in some aspects. Highly recommend reading some of the highlighted points in The Mythical Number Two by Melnikoff and Bargh (2018), published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

2) An edition of the book is available to borrow on archive.org and you may find this quoted text in the first introductory chapter.


Can one incubate on a specific idea in one's sleep?

This study found that REM sleep "enhances the integration of unassociated information for creative problem solving", and to an extent that surpasses the benefits of "quiet rest and non-REM sleep". try a google scholar search for 'psychology sleep  incubation '.

Interestingly, the experiment that yielded the first discovery of a neurotransmitter was famously claimed to have been conceived of during a dream and was conducted during the middle of that same night. The scientist, Otto Lowel, had failed to successfully document the same dream nights prior.


What are the DSM requirements for 'Paranoid Personality Disorder'?

Your asking for a very small citation from the DSM 5. I believe it falls under fair use. I'd be glad to add this to the internet for scholarship and research with another citations about Cluster A because it makes no changes to the value of DSM-5.

Paranoid Personality Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria 301.0 (F60.0)
A. A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their nfiotives are inter preted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of con texts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her.

Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates.

Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her.

Reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events.

Persistently bears grudges (i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights).

Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to oth ers and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack.

Has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner.

B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, or another psychotic disorder and is not attributable to the physiological effects of another medical condition.
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add “premorbid,” i.e., “paranoid personality disorder (premorbid).”

-DSM-5
A general explanation of DSM Cluster A is as follows:

Cluster A: Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal Personality Disorders
Cluster A is called the odd, eccentric cluster. It includes Paranoid Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, and Schizotypal Personality Disorders. The common features of the personality disorders in this cluster are social awkwardness and social withdrawal. These disorders are dominated by distorted thinking.
The Paranoid Personality Disorder* is characterized by a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of other people. People with this disorder assume that others are out to harm them, take advantage of them, or humiliate them in some way. They put a lot of effort into protecting themselves and keeping their distance from others. They are known to preemptively attack others whom they feel threatened by. They tend to hold grudges, are litigious, and display pathological jealously. Distorted thinking is evident. Their perception of the environment includes reading malevolent intentions into genuinely harmless, innocuous comments or behavior, and dwelling on past slights. For these reasons, they do not confide in others and do not allow themselves to develop close relationships. Their emotional life tends to be dominated by distrust and hostility.

-DSM-5: The Ten Personality Disorders: Cluster A


How can we eliminate the effect of psychiatric medication on neuropsychological research with schizophrenic patients?

As far as I know, this effect cannot be eliminated by any practical means, other than stratifying the subjects into groups according to type of drug, dosage, duration of use etc. and use statistical testing to look for any differences between the groups with, e.g., linear mixed modeling.

However, a cursory search on Google Scholar yields multiple studies where unmedicated folks were successfully recruited into the study, e.g. Kraguljac et al. (2016).

Reference
- Kraguljac et al., Schizophrenia Bull (2016); 42(4): 1046–55


Is Apple's iPhone Retina Display really accurate to human eye resolution?

Until peer-reviewed data on the topic is published, all we have to go on is blog posts from vision and display researchers. The best posts I've seen so far are:

  Artal, P. (2012) Is the display resolution of the new iPad adequate for the eye?
  Artal, P. (2012) What have in common the Apple “Retina” display and our retina? Probably, only the name.
  Soneira, R.M. (2012) New iPad Display Technology Shoot-Out

To summarize: Some people can see the difference in some cases.


What are current neuronal explanations and models of 'consciousness'?

The major neural models of consciousness at the moment roughly fall into two camps: cognitive and phenomenological. They are defined by controversy surrounding what types of experience qualify as concious.
Cognitive models
On the one hand there are strong cognitive models of consciousness, such as the one proposed by Stanislas Dehaene, where consciousness is characterised - neurally - by large scale, reverberant processing across the whole brain. That is, when feedforward stimulus based activity and top down feedback activity (i.e. internal, cognitive factors) are coordinated across the whole cortex. On this view, a stimulus can be said to be consciously perceived when it gains access to a special population of workspace neurons that have limited capacity and broadcast information related to the stimulus to other modular subsystems (e.g., memory, language sensory modalities). Limited capacity and broadcasting are properties of workspace neurons that account for both the limited nature of consciousness (e.g., attention), and coherency of consciousness (that is we perceive multi-sensory information coherently as events that are bound together, not as separate bits of visual, auditory and tactile experiences). It is believed that these workspace neurons are apart of the fronto-parietal attention network, and are involved in selecting information in the occipital-temporal systems.
Phenomenological models
In contrast, so called phenomenological theories, such as the those put forward by Victor Lamme and Ned Block, propose that consciousness also arises from local recurrent activity between two brain regions. The central feature of these theories is that - in addition to the cognitive forms of consciousness - there is also phenomenal consciousness which accounts for raw sensory (non-cognitive) properties of consciousness.
The key argument for this type of consciousness is that phenomenal consciousness overflows cognitive consciousness, that is, we are conscious of things that are outside of the focus of attention and that do not become encoded in a more durable form by the central cognitive system (I think Ned Block would still argue phenomenal consciousness requires attention so I am setting up a caricature here). According to this theory, phenomenal consciousness is supported by local recurrent activity between two regions. For example, it is possible to have a phenomenal sense of motion when motion selective cortex (area MT) and primary visual cortex (V1) enter into a feedforward and feedback relationship. Note Block and Lamme hold the same views as Dehaene regarding cognitive consciousness.
Old and other models
It is also possible to distinguish these two theories of consciousness from other dated views that argue that particular parts of the brain reflect the goings on of consciousness. For example, one common view is that the processing in the frontal lobes reflects consciousness. These regionally specific theories are quite different from the ones described above where consciousness is characterised by relationships between regions. However, these types of theories are very much out of fashion and for good reason - consciousness is likely to be a complex dynamic property of the system.
However, once you start to say that the whole system is important some people, such as Alva Noe, argue that it is pointless even saying that consciousness resides in the brain!!!! For Noe, consciousness is a dynamic relationship between the organism and the environment. I would not say that Noe's views are widely held in the neuroscientific community.
Well, these are the only models that I have followed in any detail. I know there are other more complex models, such as Giulio Tononi's Information Integration model, but this model requires a good knowledge of information theory (so I never followed it up). If any of this material needs more clarification I am more than happy to expand on it.

Bibliography
For an intro, try reading:

Kouider, S. (2009). Neurobiological Theories of Consciousness. In Banks, W. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Consciousness. Elsevier, vol. 2, 87-100. (pdf)

See also:

Dehaene S, Changeux JP, Naccache L, Sackur J, and Sergent C (2006) Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: A testable taxonomy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10: 204–211. (pdf)

Lamme VA (2006) Towards a true neural stance on consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10: 494–501. (pdf)


What is the relationship between mathematical ability and autism?

It can range from savant-like skills to extreme dyscalculia, some are very mean or average.

The savant stereotype is caused mostly by many Western films which is applicable only for a small fraction of ASD population; for the others in ASD spectrum it is misleading  and unhelpful.


What's the neurological basis for "practice makes perfect"?

The cortex and more of the higher centers are involved in a process when we first learn it. For example it has been tested that basketball players can improve by simply thinking about shooting baskets and not actually doing it. Prior to puberty a lot of neurological " pruning" takes place. This was eloquently discussed in Satinovers book " The Quantum Brain" which talks about models of machine learning based on our understanding of the human brain. Once a process has been repeated over and over again several things seem to happen and one is definitely that neural pathways are reinforced and neural connections get stronger the more we use them. This is only part of the picture however. It appears that older parts of the brain, things closer to what we would call " reflexes" can take over a process that has been rehearsed over and over again. This would be a process occurring in the cerebellum that once required the cortex to fully participate in the process before it was rehearsed over and over. My college piano teacher told me that even though i had not practiced piano a lot in my 20's it would still be easier for me to learn piano again because i studied in my teens. This is an example of the neural connections being maintained even after years of non use, though anecdotal of course, but certainly there are millions of such examples. Hope this explanation helps. Now everyone go get that 10 000 hours in and become experts. :)


Does any evidence show that Smartphone users have poorer memory?

One relevant study by Sparrow et al. (2011) that came out last year in Science was on the "Google effect": When subjects expected that they'd be able to have later access to information, their memory was poorer for it. We can extrapolate to smartphones -- if individuals know they have information at their fingertips, they don't need to worry so much about retaining that information.

Betsy Sparrow, Jenny Liu, and Daniel M. Wegner (2011) Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips Science 1207745 Published online 14 July 2011 [DOI:10.1126/science.1207745] (Free PDF)


Where are scientific references for the claims made in "Thinking Fast and Slow"

Just found the book I used to study decision making. It's called Judgement and Decision Making and is written by Daniel and David Hardman. It is a perfect introductory book on the topic with references to pretty recent literature. It covers much of Tversky and Kahneman's work (the latter being the author of Thinking Fast and Slow), but also refer to literature of many other good research. I think this book may be the best scientific approximation of Thinking Fast and Slow.

Hardman, D. K. & Hardman, D., (2009). Judgment and decision making: Psychological perspectives (Vol. 11). John Wiley & Sons.


In regards to a list, if there is anything like that it is simply internal and external conflicts (which encompasses your list, as well as deals with overlapping components of your list).

Furthermore, there are three major paradigms of sociology, one of which is conflict theory. This examines stratification (ie through classes) and inequality (ie of resources), largely being credited to Karl Marx. In general, the paradigms are different lenses with which to examine issues in society (gender, class, race, etc.).


Does correcting responses after feedback lead to better learning?

Several different, well-received theories of education would say yes. However, it depends on the quality of 'correct' information that is received after the answer is deemed 'incorrect'.

In Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of education, it is theorized that individuals construct new knowledge through methods of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation requires taking new information and modifying it to fit into an existing framework (without changing the framework itself), and accommodation requires taking new information and updating an existing framework in line with the newly-learned information. Self-correcting responses allow the individual to consciously accommodate new information in accordance with the cognitive dissonance that may result from conflicting perspectives on information.

In the theory of cognitive apprenticeship, it is speculated that there are six teaching methods that are integral to advancing a student's knowledge in a domain. Among those are reflection, which allows students to "compare their own problem-solving processes with those of an expert, another student, and ultimately, an internal cognitive model of expertise." In more complex tasks, correcting ones' mistakes in accordance with the techniques and heuristics used by a knowledgable other would be considered a method of reflection. However, it is not clear that this would further apply to a multiple-choice test, as ones' methods for reaching a conclusion are less observable for tests of that nature.

In fact, there is evidence to show that, while multiple-choice tests may be good predictors of academic performance, multiple-choice questions aren't accurate assessments of actual knowledge. For example:

  Multiple choice tests are best adapted for testing well-defined or lower-order skills. Problem-solving and higher-order reasoning skills are better assessed through short-answer and essay tests. Another disadvantage of multiple choice tests is possible ambiguity in the examinee's interpretation of the item. Failing to interpret information as the test maker intended can result in an "incorrect" response, even if the taker's response is potentially valid. The term "multiple guess" has been used to describe this scenario because test-takers may attempt to guess rather than determine the correct answer. A free response test allows the test taker to make an argument for their viewpoint and potentially receive credit.

Therefore, it may be the case that self-correcting in the instance of an incorrect answer (accommodated by an explanation for the 'correct' answer) can actually improve knowledge, and aid in the accommodation of new knowledge.

For this reason (and for accommodation to effectively occur), in the instance of a multiple-choice test, it may be better practice to consciously reason through the answer in the face of feedback, instead of simply selecting the correct answer.


How is age related change in IQ measured if tests use age specific norms?

When studying adult IQ, general adult norms are often used. So for example, even if 70 year olds have lower IQ than 20 year olds on average, for research comparison purposes the same adult norms might be used to study age related cognitive differences.
Thus, raw-scores and IQ scores will be almost perfectly correlated (except for small adjustments to the distribution resulting form the conversion from raw scores to IQ scores). When studying change in intelligence across childhood, test raw scores can often be used. Of course, things get more challenging studying young children who are unable to complete tests suited to older children and adult.

Updated comments

Cohort and related effects: I agree with @what's point that assessing whether differences between age groups based on cross-sectional data is problematic. Such differences can be due to cohort effects, death, differential participation rates, and so on. It's much better where possible where possible to study changes in IQ using a longitudinal design where the same participants are studied over extended periods of time. If a cross-sectional design is all that is available then studying the effect of covariates, sampling participants in a thoughtful way, and reasoning about cohort effects are all important.
Scaling raw scores to IQ: @what suggests that you need to relate measurements to a standardisation sample in order to compare research with other studies. First, a distinction can be made between "intelligence" and IQ. IQ is standardised by age. Intelligence is not standardised by age. I am assuming that any studies interested in age related declines in IQ are implicitly actually asking about age related declines in intelligence. That is because by definition at the group level, IQ never changes with age, because age is by definition controlled for. Second, there is an issue of what is a useful metric for describing changes in  intelligence with age. I agree that IQ is a familiar metric with a clear mean and standard deviation. For that reason, it is often useful to use this metric with a single adult norm sample to study age related changes. That said, using raw scores would tell the same story regarding age related change; it's just that the metric would be a little less intuitive.


Assertiveness - should I have feeling that someone need to do something for me

From what I could understand, you are broadly asking:

How can I ask for something assertively without seeming demanding or weak?
Is it ok for me to be demanding and even selfish?
How am I expected to be assertive under different circumstances / environments (e.g work, family, general social interactions etc)?

It helps to think of "Assertiveness Training (AT)" as:

a way to effectively communicate with others
considering the rights of all party involved in a social interaction, and
keeping in mind the context of the social interaction.

Just like a constitution in a democracy gives you certain "rights", AT also defines some rights that you need to recognize and understand to be assertive in a social situation.

These rights are:

Every individual has the right to do anything as long as it does not hurt others.
Everyone has the right to maintain their dignity by being assertive - even if it hurts someone else's feeling.
Everyone has the right to make a request from someone, as long as they recognize that the other person has the rights to say no.
In many interpersonal situations the rights aren't clear. But you always have the right to discuss the problem with the persons involved, to clarify it.
Everyone has the rights to these rights.

Source: Fensterheim Ph.D., Herbert and Jean Baer, (1975). Don't Say Yes When You Want to Say No: Making Life Right When It Feels All Wrong. RHUS.

(While these are broad guidelines, there are others who have expanded it to be more specific; e.g here and here (pdf)).

We have all come across people who are aggressive or passive.

In the context of AT:

An aggressive person is someone who doesn't respect the rights of others nor cares for their feelings. Aggression is about dominance. E.g. of this kind of behaviour include yelling at someone, threatening someone or even physical brawls to get your way.
A passive person on the other hand is someone who sacrifices their own rights or feelings and often gives into the demands made by someone, irrespective of what they genuinely want to do or how they feel about it. Passivity here is about being submissive. E.g. of this kind of behaviour include doing what everyone asks you to do, trying to be nice to everyone even if you don't feel like it, not standing up for your beliefs etc.

So assertiveness is kind of like trying to navigate another path between being aggressive and passive by being considerate of the feelings / rights of others you are interacting with while also respecting your own feelings / rights too depending on the situation and the person(s) involved.

Thus, an assertive approach is about respect and consideration for self and others.

Under certain circumstances, deliberately choosing to be aggressive or passive can also be considered being assertive.

Another important concept to understand in AT is to understand the situational context of any social interaction.

That means, depending on the situation, context and the person(s) involved, how you communicate also needs to change.

E.g. When your wife yells at you, you may feel comfortable to yell back at her. But obviously when your boss yells at you, being assertive-passive and choosing to be quite is a better choice at that moment.

Or, for example, it is not assertiveness if you express your undying attraction and love to a widow at her husband's funeral, however badly you want to, because it is socially not appropriate.

So now, let's address your doubts:

How can I express or ask for something assertively without seeming demanding or weak?

Keeping AT concepts in mind, being demanding can be an aggressive behaviour if you are totally disregarding the rights of the other person (i.e. their right to say no to you). So if you are not disregarding the rights of the other person, as per AT you are not being demanding.

But you also have to consider the situational context. E.g. Sometimes you may choose to be rude with a stranger if they are annoying you or you may even be aggressive with someone if threatened by them. Or you might purposefully choose to obey and be passive when you feel threatened, so as to not endanger your life.

As a boss you can make some demands on your employees to do their job better or in a particular way. This may seem like an aggressive behaviour, but can be considered an assertive approach because of the social context - a boss is required to manage his employee, and employees are expected to do their job well.

About appearing weak - AT does not consider expressing your thoughts, wants and feelings as weakness. In fact it actually encourages you to express it clearly, directly and openly. (e.g. "I didn't like that movie", "I want to go a movie", "I felt bad when you arrived late for the movie"). Expressing yourself like these isn't a weakness because it helps the other person(s) understand you better, without any room for misunderstanding.

Ofcourse, most of the times, it is not assertiveness if you aren't considerate of the other person's rights.

Is it ok for me to be demanding and even selfish?

Depending on the situational context, yes.

You have the right to say no, even to your close friend, even if they may feel hurt about it.

Obviously, assertiveness doesn't mean you always have your way. But AT says you should also be considerate to yourself too (you have the same rights as others), and so if you feel someone is making some unjustified demand on you, it is ok to say no even if some may perceive that as selfishness.

You can be demanding if required so. For example, at work, sometimes you may need to be aggressive to further your career. (Note that the appropriateness of this varies based on a society's culture. For e.g. in US, it may be appropriate for you to go home before your boss, but in Japan or Korea, this may be considered as you being rude to the boss).

(It is very important to keep in mind that AT is not about always getting your way).

How am I expected to be assertive under different circumstances / environments (e.g work, family, general social interactions etc)?

By balancing your rights vs the rights of the other person(s) in a socially appropriate manner. Sometimes it may be apt to be assertive-passive and sacrifice your rights for the demands made by someone you love. Sometimes it may be apt for you to be assertive-aggressive with a pesky family member. And so on.


Can addiction develop to the absence of a normally present negative stimulus?

In short, the answer to your question

  can someone become addicted to the absence or the removal of a negative stimulus?

is most definitely yes.

Whilst not intended to be used as “diagnostic criteria” for determining if addiction is present or not, the characteristics of addiction provided through the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) are widely present in most cases of addiction, and gives an outline of the mechanism required for what you could be talking about, and therefore your hypothesis definitely has legs.  You only have to look at alcoholism as an example.

The mechanism works through positive reinforcement, which as you put it, "Well done! here's a candy" in which the "candy", as you will see below, can be pain relief.

The same ASAM link you gave also points out that

  Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.

Although experimental studies have produced mixed results, there has been a long-standing belief in the analgesic properties of alcohol and a meta-analysis of controlled experimental studies conducted by Thompson et al. (2016) found that alcohol has the ability to provide a sense of relief from pain.

  Alcohol resulted in a small increase in pain threshold.
  A moderate-large decrease in pain ratings was also observed.
  Higher blood alcohol content is associated with greater analgesia.
  Analgesic effects may contribute to alcohol dependence in those with persistent pain.

Alcohol is also a big problem amongst many seeking help from severe stress, depression and/or anxiety through negative urgency which is correlated with greater caudate nucleus activity to alcohol cues (Chester, et al. 2016).

This is because, as pointed out by Sharot (2012)

  The caudate nucleus is one of the major targets for the brain’s dopaminergic system (Wise & Rompre, 1989). Dopamine is a principal neuromodulator for reward learning and reward-seeking behaviour (Bayer & Glimcher, 2005; Belin & Everitt, 2008; Schultz, 2001). In particular, dopamine is suggested to signal predictions of rewards, and errors in such prediction–providing a learning signal when predictions do not align with outcomes (Montague, Hymann & Cohen, 2004; Schultz, 2001, 2007).

Through the dependency on the false friend called Alcohol, there is the inability to consistently abstain from seeking relief from pain (emotional or physical) which is part of the impairment in behavioural control.  The feelings of escape from physical pain or the emotional attachment to life's hardships, after a while, can lead to craving for the same feeling, either to remove the returning pain, or to prevent its return.

Diminished recognition of significant problems with their behaviours and interpersonal relationships forms another part of the impairment in behavioural control and can arise from this constant "need" for an alcoholic drink, and dysfunctional emotional responses develop.

References

Chester, D. S., Lynam, D. R., Milich, R., & DeWall, C. N. (2016). Craving versus control: Negative urgency and neural correlates of alcohol cue reactivity. Drug and alcohol dependence, 163, S25-S28. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.10.036

Sharot, T. (2012). Chapter 3 - Predicting Emotional Reactions: Mechanisms, Bias and Choice. In R. Dolan & T. Sharot (Ed.), Neuroscience of Preference and Choice (pp. 53-72). Academic Press doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-381431-9.00003-6

Thompson, T., Oram, C., Correll, C. U., Tsermentseli, S., & Stubbs, B. (2017). Analgesic effects of alcohol: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled experimental studies in healthy participants. The Journal of Pain, 18(5), 499-510. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2016.11.009


How does masturbation influence your brain and dreams?

Short answer: We don't really know yet.

Long answer:

This excellent question exposes an enormous gap in humanity's knowledge about the postpubescent psyche. I dare say that not only post-masturbatory dreaming in general but also post-masturbatory lucid dreaming in particular have been gravely neglected by the interdisciplinary research community for decades.

Even though early psychoanalytic approaches have already made great advances in pushing the boundaries of our knowledge at the nexus of autoerotic behavior patterns, dream content, and dream lucidity (see, e.g., the seminal work of Ellis, 1910; Bernstein, 1962; Meltzer, 1966) via meticulous arm-chair reasoning, self-observation, and clinical case studies, these theoretical advances have not been subjected to sufficient quantitative let alone neuroscientific scrutiny yet.

A comprehensive search for "dreams" & "masturbation" in the PsychInfo database yields a meager number of 8 hits indicating that the topic is under-researched.

One of the most relevant and influential (2 citations according to Google Scholar) empirical paper seems to be by Yu (2012) who asked 52 young male Chinese adults to complete a questionnaire on masturbation, pornography, and dream content. The key results of the study highlight the extent to which masturbatory research has progressed over the years. However, they also open up interesting avenues for future scientific endeavors. Yu's (2012) findings suggest the startling conclusion that

  ...the more often men watch pornography, the more frequently they masturbate to ejaculation...

and, even more relevant for the present purposes...

  ... the less likely they are to experience nocturnal emissions [wet dreams].

Even though this trailblazing research included a wide variety of additional pornographic and dreaming-related variables (whose meaning should not be googled at the workplace), it remains silent on the question of how masturbatory processes affect quantity and quality of dream lucidity.

Making matters more complicated, a similar research project, in which 70 German students were surveyed about sexual activity and dream content (Schredl, Desch, Röming, & Spachmann, 2009) came to different conclusions:

  The findings indicate that the frequency of erotic dreams is related to the amount of time spent with sexual fantasies in waking life but not to intercourse or masturbation.

I can only speculate that cultural differences may be involved deserving further empirical attention.

Furthermore, because this research is limited by the fact that it is only based on retrospective, self-report measures, it seems fruitful and of utmost importance to investigate these questions employing a modern neuroscience approach.

References

Bernstein, I. (1962). Dreams and masturbation in an adolescent boy. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 10(2), 289-302.

Ellis, H. (1910). Autoerotism: A Study of the Spontaneous Manifestations of the Sexual Impuse. In Studies in the psychology of sex Vol 1: The evolution of modesty, the phenomena of sexual periodicity, auto-erotism (3rd ed. rev. and enlarged) (pp. 161–325). Philadelphia, PA, US: F A Davis.

Meltzer, D. (1966) ‘The relation of anal masturbation to projective identification’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis 47: 335-342.

Schredl, M., Desch, S., Röming, F., & Spachmann, A. (2009). Erotic dreams and their relationship to waking-life sexuality. Sexologies, 18(1), 38–43. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.sexol.2008.05.001

Yu, C. K. C. (2012). Pornography consumption and sexual behaviors as correlates of erotic dreams and nocturnal emissions. Dreaming, 22(4), 230.


How are activities involving toy blocks linked the development of intelligence in children?

Found what I consider to be the best reference here

Hirsch, E. S. (1996). The block book (Third ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

It's certainly going in the thesis after glancing through it.  Thought posting it here might helps others too.


Is inhibitory brain circuitry involved in cross-modal sensory perception?

As far as I know, there is just one article that explicitly mentions the generation of cross-modal qualia, i.e., visual qualia in response to tactile stimulation (Ortiz et al., 2011). Before continuing about this article I do wish to emphasize it is a single, isolated study that hasn't been supported by other studies at the time of this writing. Moreover, the journal PlosONE is not my favorite and a bit of a strange journal to throw such an important observation in. I would have trusted this work more if published into a more appropriate journal for such strong claims, such as J Neurosci. Having said that:

The authors trained 18 blind subjects and 10 sighted, blindfolded controls for 3 months, on a daily basis using a tactile vision-substitution device; a vibrotactile display equipped with a camera. They deployed a grating acuity task and 7 out of 18 subjects reported 'seeing' visual qualia after 3 months, i.e., these subjects started seeing the gratings instead of feeling them. It was only blind folks that reported this, not any of the sighted controls. Those blind folks reporting qualia showed increased activation of the primary visual cortex upon using the tactile device. The authors conclude that recruitment of the deafferented V1 in blind people led them to 'see' the tactile stimuli after sufficient training (Ortiz et al., 2011).

You are right that it is believed that a disintegration of inhibitory circuits in the cortex is believed to underlie crossmodal cortical recruitment of (e.g.) the visual cortex to tactile stimulation (Stronks et al., 2015). Chronic visual deprivation is believed to reduce the inhibitory circuits, while visual stimulation is believed to enhance them. For example, tetanic stimulation of inhibitory neurons (presumably through GABAA) resulted in more long-term potentiation of inhibitory responses in young rats than in adult rats (Komatsu, 1994). This is in line with the theory that shaping of the brain is critically dependent on sensory input in early life, i.e., inhibitory circuits are thought to be actively developed through experience, resulting in containment of visual processing in the visual cortices and tactile processing in the somatosensory cortex etc. Note, however, that even V1 has shown to be multimodal even in normally sighted folks, i.e., while V1 is dedicated to visual processing, it is not exclusively devoted to it. One theory about synesthesia is that the development of inhibitory circuits is compromised, leading to crossmodal activation in folks without any sensory disability. This theory has made people conclude that babies are all synesthetes (e.g., Wagner & Dobkins, 2009).

References
- Komatsu, J Neurosci (1994); 14(11): 6489-99
- Ortiz et al., PlosONE (2011); 6(8): e23264
- Stronks et al., Brain Res (2015); 1624: 140–52)
- Wagner & Dobkins, JOV (2009); 9: 699