Franco Orsucci | University of Amsterdam (original) (raw)
Papers by Franco Orsucci
Frontiers in Psychology frontiersin.org, 2024
Important alliance processes, including emotion regulation, relatedness, security, empathic respo... more Important alliance processes, including emotion regulation, relatedness, security, empathic responding, sense-making, and validation, are discussed in correspondence with different therapist verbal and nonverbal markers. Discussion: Clinical implications and study limitations are discussed. Recommendations are made for future directions about applying multimethod approaches when studying rupture and repair processes in psychotherapy.
IGI Global eBooks, Jan 18, 2011
Attention is analyzed as the superior control system in the brain from an engineering point of vi... more Attention is analyzed as the superior control system in the brain from an engineering point of view, with support for this from the way attention is presently being understood by brain science. Such an engineering- control framework allows an understanding of how the complex networks observed in the brain during various cognitive tasks can begin to be functionally decomposed. A machine version of such an attention control system is then discussed and extended to allow for goals and their reward values also to be encoded in the attention machine. The manner in which emotion may then begin to be imbued in the machine is briefly discussed and how even some glimpse of consciousness may then arise.
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), 2009
viXra, Nov 1, 2016
We demonstrate the potential value of performing an HRV analysis at rest and in the condition of ... more We demonstrate the potential value of performing an HRV analysis at rest and in the condition of controlled respiration as a basic test for subjects suspected of using narcotic drugs.
The perception of odours in humans is often viewed as an aesthetic sense, a sense capable of evok... more The perception of odours in humans is often viewed as an aesthetic sense, a sense capable of evoking emotion and memory, leading to measured thoughts and behavior. Smell, however, is also a primal sense, and it can elicit innate and stereotyped behaviors likely to result from the nonconscious perception of odours. It is evolutionarily the most primitive of the senses and for most organisms is the central sensory modality allowing communication with the environment. Whether smell is primal or aesthetic, whether it is conscious or non-conscious, organisms must have evolved a sensory system that recognizes olfactory information in the environment and transmits these signals to the brain, where they are processed to provide an internal representation of the external world.
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Sep 1, 2002
Objective It is suggested that the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is directly correlated t... more Objective It is suggested that the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is directly correlated to the outcome of the illness. This study examines the effect of DUP on the acute response of patients with first-episode psychosis. Method In this naturalistic study, 55 Asian patients with firstepisode psychosis were assessed weekly for 6 weeks on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Simpson-Angus Rating Scale, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. Clinical response was defined as a 20% or greater reduction in PANSS from baseline. Results After 6 weeks, the response rate was 67% (n ¼ 37). The responders had a mean DUP of 14.7 ± 20.2 months and a median of 6 months. This was significantly shorter when compared to the mean DUP 37.3 (SD ¼ 32.7) months, median of 36 months of the nonresponders (Mann-Whitney U-test, P ¼ 0.37). There was no significant difference in the mean daily dose of antipsychotics, the mean Simpson-Angus Scale, the Barnes Akathisia Scale and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale scores between the responders and nonresponders. Conclusions The study results suggest that DUP is a predictor of acute response in first episode psychosis.
PubMed, Jan 3, 2014
The peptide hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been implicated in the reg... more The peptide hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been implicated in the regulation of mammalian social behavior. There is considerable evidence implicating both oxytocin and vasopressin in social recognition and social memory. This review explores their role in attachment dynamics. Oxytocin is one element in a complex network of interactions observed in natural phenomena ranging from molecular biology, etology, social behavior and human psychology.
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Sep 1, 2002
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Apr 1, 1998
... disciplines useful? Does this contamination originate a transdisciplinary toolbox of methods ... more ... disciplines useful? Does this contamination originate a transdisciplinary toolbox of methods and models which is worth calling "Nonlinear Science"? What ... Press, 1958). 2. G. Bateson, Mind and Nature (New York, Dutton, 1979). 3 ...
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Apr 1, 1998
IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS eBooks, 2004
... Acknowledgments We are grateful to Gabriella Frescura, Lakshmi Narayan and Ian Seldrup for th... more ... Acknowledgments We are grateful to Gabriella Frescura, Lakshmi Narayan and Ian Seldrup for their collaboration during the editorial phases in the development of this book. Laura Monti and Maria Giovanna De Risio provided impor-tant assistance and suggestions. VII ...
We examine the nature of semiotics and its intermingling with physiology in the embodied mind. We... more We examine the nature of semiotics and its intermingling with physiology in the embodied mind. We consider the balance between order and noise in our knowledge of the natural world. The relational dimension is explored through synchronization dynamics.
Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, 2004
We investigated the informational structure of written texts (also in the form of speech transcri... more We investigated the informational structure of written texts (also in the form of speech transcriptions) using Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA). RQA technique provides a quantitative description of text sequences at the orthographic level in terms of structuring, and may be useful for a variety of linguistics-related studies. We used RQA to measure differences in linguistic samples from different subjects. They were divided in subgroups based on personality and culture differences. We used RQA and KRQA (Cross Recurrence) to measure the coupling and synchronization during the conversation (semiotic interaction) of different subjects. We discuss results both for the improvement of methodology and some general implications for neurocognitive science.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1996
Background: A single case of Behçet’s disease was studied throughout several consultations during... more Background: A single case of Behçet’s disease was studied throughout several consultations during a period of 15 years. Methods: The evolution of the disease was related to important events in the subject’s life, cognitive patterns, psychopathological features and, particularly, his relationships to women and to his family. Results: Some interesting complex correlations between illness course and psychosocial events and states
RIASSUNTO. Scopo. Chiarire come i concetti di coevoluzione e creazione linguistica siano cruciali... more RIASSUNTO. Scopo. Chiarire come i concetti di coevoluzione e creazione linguistica siano cruciali nella teoria della tecnica psicoterapeutica. Metodo. Si esaminano il paradosso del linguaggio privato, la teoria della sincronizzazione, le diverse componenti, biologiche, linguistiche e comunicative coinvolte nelle relazioni psicoterapeutiche. Viene presentata una revisione e discussione critica delle variabili di questo campo complesso e degli studi più rilevanti. Risultati. Un approccio terapeutico che valorizzi la coevoluzione, il campo bipersonale, la comunicazione implicita e la conoscenza procedurale può essere più efficace nel modificare le diverse forme di memoria. Discussione. Si evidenziano i benefici in termini di validità scientifica, efficacia, personalizzazione ed etica della cura.
Physics of Life Reviews, Jun 1, 2013
This is a fascinating article dealing with some core questions in culture dynamics, in a thorough... more This is a fascinating article dealing with some core questions in culture dynamics, in a thoroughly multidisciplinary way: spanning from genetics to archaeology and music. This article summarizes why a purely selectionist theory of cultural evolution might be inappropriate and presents an alternative evolutionary framework for culture based on communal exchange following a coherent line of research [11,12]. The Author starts with a thorough exploration of the algorithmic structure of natural selection. She clarifies how Darwin had to balance accumulation and obliteration of new evolutionary traits over a stable set of transmissible ones. Von Neumann [23] defined a minimal algorithmic structure capable to lead the evolutionary process. This should include an informational stable core, as a coded message, which would be both duplicated and translated several times along the process. The coded message should be protected by environmental influences in order to retain invariance: its replicas should be authentic. Eventually acquired or modified traits (mutations) should be discarded as some sort of evolutionary dust and noise. The article aims to develop a theory of cultural evolution that can (1) explain why humans alone have evolved "complex, cumulative, open-ended culture", (2) propose "specific features of humans that enabled culture to evolve", and (3) "predict whether new life forms, whether natural, artificial, or found elsewhere in our universe, should be able to evolve culture on the basis of these features". In the study of evolutionary principles of culture evolution we have to consider at the same time its transmission, innovation and retention over generations. The case that ideas could be equivalents of genotype and artefacts of phenotype could find objections. A definition of ideas could be vague or over-determined. Artefacts, for example a car or a music script, are not capable of self-replication (autopoiesis). A focus on artefacts and artistic expressions could lead to difficulties related to their iconic nature, in semiotic terms, and the identification of markers for underlying codes might be left to inferential and subjective approaches. The Author presents a focus on memes and their possible function as analogues of genes in cultural processes. Memes, when their definition was proposed [6], referred to mimesis as imitation and its viral epidemiology. The cumulative evolution of genes depends on biological selection pressures neither too great nor too small in relation to mutation-rates. There seems no reason to think that the same balance will exist in the selection pressures on memes. In meme theory a definition of code scripts (analogous to the DNA of genes) is missing and the instability of meme mutation mechanisms is not well assessed.
Physics of Life Reviews, Mar 1, 2013
... Steve Guastello, Jeff Goldstein, Louis Pecora, Giuseppe Vitiello, Carla Fioravanti, Giorgio P... more ... Steve Guastello, Jeff Goldstein, Louis Pecora, Giuseppe Vitiello, Carla Fioravanti, Giorgio Parisi, Guelfo Margherita, Robert Marwan, Tullio Minelli, Chiara Mocenni, Alessandra Orsi, Luciano Pietronero, Bob Porter, Paola Redditi, Chuck Webber, Franco Scalzone, Steven Suomi ...
IGI Global eBooks, 2013
Since the first production of tools at the beginning of human presence on earth, evolutionary jum... more Since the first production of tools at the beginning of human presence on earth, evolutionary jumps mark human development. Sometimes, these punctuations were triggered by inventions of new tools, combined with new environmental adaptations. Affordances, as specialized forms of symbiotic embodiment with tools and environments, represent one of the main factors for human evolutionary processes. The cognitive neuroscience of the reflexive function can be one of the main keys to understand how the emergence of new interfaces yields new ways of projecting the human presence and consciousness in the world.
Frontiers in Psychology frontiersin.org, 2024
Important alliance processes, including emotion regulation, relatedness, security, empathic respo... more Important alliance processes, including emotion regulation, relatedness, security, empathic responding, sense-making, and validation, are discussed in correspondence with different therapist verbal and nonverbal markers. Discussion: Clinical implications and study limitations are discussed. Recommendations are made for future directions about applying multimethod approaches when studying rupture and repair processes in psychotherapy.
IGI Global eBooks, Jan 18, 2011
Attention is analyzed as the superior control system in the brain from an engineering point of vi... more Attention is analyzed as the superior control system in the brain from an engineering point of view, with support for this from the way attention is presently being understood by brain science. Such an engineering- control framework allows an understanding of how the complex networks observed in the brain during various cognitive tasks can begin to be functionally decomposed. A machine version of such an attention control system is then discussed and extended to allow for goals and their reward values also to be encoded in the attention machine. The manner in which emotion may then begin to be imbued in the machine is briefly discussed and how even some glimpse of consciousness may then arise.
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), 2009
viXra, Nov 1, 2016
We demonstrate the potential value of performing an HRV analysis at rest and in the condition of ... more We demonstrate the potential value of performing an HRV analysis at rest and in the condition of controlled respiration as a basic test for subjects suspected of using narcotic drugs.
The perception of odours in humans is often viewed as an aesthetic sense, a sense capable of evok... more The perception of odours in humans is often viewed as an aesthetic sense, a sense capable of evoking emotion and memory, leading to measured thoughts and behavior. Smell, however, is also a primal sense, and it can elicit innate and stereotyped behaviors likely to result from the nonconscious perception of odours. It is evolutionarily the most primitive of the senses and for most organisms is the central sensory modality allowing communication with the environment. Whether smell is primal or aesthetic, whether it is conscious or non-conscious, organisms must have evolved a sensory system that recognizes olfactory information in the environment and transmits these signals to the brain, where they are processed to provide an internal representation of the external world.
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Sep 1, 2002
Objective It is suggested that the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is directly correlated t... more Objective It is suggested that the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is directly correlated to the outcome of the illness. This study examines the effect of DUP on the acute response of patients with first-episode psychosis. Method In this naturalistic study, 55 Asian patients with firstepisode psychosis were assessed weekly for 6 weeks on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Simpson-Angus Rating Scale, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. Clinical response was defined as a 20% or greater reduction in PANSS from baseline. Results After 6 weeks, the response rate was 67% (n ¼ 37). The responders had a mean DUP of 14.7 ± 20.2 months and a median of 6 months. This was significantly shorter when compared to the mean DUP 37.3 (SD ¼ 32.7) months, median of 36 months of the nonresponders (Mann-Whitney U-test, P ¼ 0.37). There was no significant difference in the mean daily dose of antipsychotics, the mean Simpson-Angus Scale, the Barnes Akathisia Scale and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale scores between the responders and nonresponders. Conclusions The study results suggest that DUP is a predictor of acute response in first episode psychosis.
PubMed, Jan 3, 2014
The peptide hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been implicated in the reg... more The peptide hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been implicated in the regulation of mammalian social behavior. There is considerable evidence implicating both oxytocin and vasopressin in social recognition and social memory. This review explores their role in attachment dynamics. Oxytocin is one element in a complex network of interactions observed in natural phenomena ranging from molecular biology, etology, social behavior and human psychology.
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Sep 1, 2002
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Apr 1, 1998
... disciplines useful? Does this contamination originate a transdisciplinary toolbox of methods ... more ... disciplines useful? Does this contamination originate a transdisciplinary toolbox of methods and models which is worth calling "Nonlinear Science"? What ... Press, 1958). 2. G. Bateson, Mind and Nature (New York, Dutton, 1979). 3 ...
Studies of nonlinear phenomena in life science (SNPLS), Apr 1, 1998
IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS eBooks, 2004
... Acknowledgments We are grateful to Gabriella Frescura, Lakshmi Narayan and Ian Seldrup for th... more ... Acknowledgments We are grateful to Gabriella Frescura, Lakshmi Narayan and Ian Seldrup for their collaboration during the editorial phases in the development of this book. Laura Monti and Maria Giovanna De Risio provided impor-tant assistance and suggestions. VII ...
We examine the nature of semiotics and its intermingling with physiology in the embodied mind. We... more We examine the nature of semiotics and its intermingling with physiology in the embodied mind. We consider the balance between order and noise in our knowledge of the natural world. The relational dimension is explored through synchronization dynamics.
Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, 2004
We investigated the informational structure of written texts (also in the form of speech transcri... more We investigated the informational structure of written texts (also in the form of speech transcriptions) using Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA). RQA technique provides a quantitative description of text sequences at the orthographic level in terms of structuring, and may be useful for a variety of linguistics-related studies. We used RQA to measure differences in linguistic samples from different subjects. They were divided in subgroups based on personality and culture differences. We used RQA and KRQA (Cross Recurrence) to measure the coupling and synchronization during the conversation (semiotic interaction) of different subjects. We discuss results both for the improvement of methodology and some general implications for neurocognitive science.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1996
Background: A single case of Behçet’s disease was studied throughout several consultations during... more Background: A single case of Behçet’s disease was studied throughout several consultations during a period of 15 years. Methods: The evolution of the disease was related to important events in the subject’s life, cognitive patterns, psychopathological features and, particularly, his relationships to women and to his family. Results: Some interesting complex correlations between illness course and psychosocial events and states
RIASSUNTO. Scopo. Chiarire come i concetti di coevoluzione e creazione linguistica siano cruciali... more RIASSUNTO. Scopo. Chiarire come i concetti di coevoluzione e creazione linguistica siano cruciali nella teoria della tecnica psicoterapeutica. Metodo. Si esaminano il paradosso del linguaggio privato, la teoria della sincronizzazione, le diverse componenti, biologiche, linguistiche e comunicative coinvolte nelle relazioni psicoterapeutiche. Viene presentata una revisione e discussione critica delle variabili di questo campo complesso e degli studi più rilevanti. Risultati. Un approccio terapeutico che valorizzi la coevoluzione, il campo bipersonale, la comunicazione implicita e la conoscenza procedurale può essere più efficace nel modificare le diverse forme di memoria. Discussione. Si evidenziano i benefici in termini di validità scientifica, efficacia, personalizzazione ed etica della cura.
Physics of Life Reviews, Jun 1, 2013
This is a fascinating article dealing with some core questions in culture dynamics, in a thorough... more This is a fascinating article dealing with some core questions in culture dynamics, in a thoroughly multidisciplinary way: spanning from genetics to archaeology and music. This article summarizes why a purely selectionist theory of cultural evolution might be inappropriate and presents an alternative evolutionary framework for culture based on communal exchange following a coherent line of research [11,12]. The Author starts with a thorough exploration of the algorithmic structure of natural selection. She clarifies how Darwin had to balance accumulation and obliteration of new evolutionary traits over a stable set of transmissible ones. Von Neumann [23] defined a minimal algorithmic structure capable to lead the evolutionary process. This should include an informational stable core, as a coded message, which would be both duplicated and translated several times along the process. The coded message should be protected by environmental influences in order to retain invariance: its replicas should be authentic. Eventually acquired or modified traits (mutations) should be discarded as some sort of evolutionary dust and noise. The article aims to develop a theory of cultural evolution that can (1) explain why humans alone have evolved "complex, cumulative, open-ended culture", (2) propose "specific features of humans that enabled culture to evolve", and (3) "predict whether new life forms, whether natural, artificial, or found elsewhere in our universe, should be able to evolve culture on the basis of these features". In the study of evolutionary principles of culture evolution we have to consider at the same time its transmission, innovation and retention over generations. The case that ideas could be equivalents of genotype and artefacts of phenotype could find objections. A definition of ideas could be vague or over-determined. Artefacts, for example a car or a music script, are not capable of self-replication (autopoiesis). A focus on artefacts and artistic expressions could lead to difficulties related to their iconic nature, in semiotic terms, and the identification of markers for underlying codes might be left to inferential and subjective approaches. The Author presents a focus on memes and their possible function as analogues of genes in cultural processes. Memes, when their definition was proposed [6], referred to mimesis as imitation and its viral epidemiology. The cumulative evolution of genes depends on biological selection pressures neither too great nor too small in relation to mutation-rates. There seems no reason to think that the same balance will exist in the selection pressures on memes. In meme theory a definition of code scripts (analogous to the DNA of genes) is missing and the instability of meme mutation mechanisms is not well assessed.
Physics of Life Reviews, Mar 1, 2013
... Steve Guastello, Jeff Goldstein, Louis Pecora, Giuseppe Vitiello, Carla Fioravanti, Giorgio P... more ... Steve Guastello, Jeff Goldstein, Louis Pecora, Giuseppe Vitiello, Carla Fioravanti, Giorgio Parisi, Guelfo Margherita, Robert Marwan, Tullio Minelli, Chiara Mocenni, Alessandra Orsi, Luciano Pietronero, Bob Porter, Paola Redditi, Chuck Webber, Franco Scalzone, Steven Suomi ...
IGI Global eBooks, 2013
Since the first production of tools at the beginning of human presence on earth, evolutionary jum... more Since the first production of tools at the beginning of human presence on earth, evolutionary jumps mark human development. Sometimes, these punctuations were triggered by inventions of new tools, combined with new environmental adaptations. Affordances, as specialized forms of symbiotic embodiment with tools and environments, represent one of the main factors for human evolutionary processes. The cognitive neuroscience of the reflexive function can be one of the main keys to understand how the emergence of new interfaces yields new ways of projecting the human presence and consciousness in the world.