text:
Posts: 30
Durham, North Carolina, US
How do I measure up?
Oct 07 12 07:04 pm Link
Haynes Karuzas wrote:
Actually yes, even though it's tough to make out the details of the image in the regular view. But I really like the vibrant colors, lighting-- that sunspot in the background and on the gravel is just the type I like -- and the llama has a great pose- one of movement which can be hard to capture. Plus the location is awesome. I like her outfit as well- the makeup and expression could be improved upon though.
Oct 07 12 08:14 pm Link
Jade Honey wrote:
Not based on this picture. I don't like the styling and I think our looks would clash. I'm not a fan of the dark makeup and the dark environment. And the pose is awkward. That being said, the dress is nice and looks good on you- especially the top half. And I like the color of your hair.
Oct 07 12 09:11 pm Link
Posts: 5
San Diego, California, US
DO tell
Oct 07 12 09:24 pm Link
Posts: 152
West Hollywood, California, US
Oct 07 12 09:28 pm Link
Posts: 3
Central City, Colorado, US
I am learning and growing in this industry and I would love your opinion! Thankyou
Oct 07 12 09:46 pm Link
Posts: 34
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
id like to know:0
Oct 07 12 10:53 pm Link
Posts: 24
Palm Beach, Florida, US
Fuck it, I'm curious!
Oct 07 12 11:06 pm Link
Posts: 53
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
I'm game.
Oct 08 12 05:35 am Link
Bengali wrote:
No. The image is a bit dark, I don't like the crop and the expression is not very engaged.
Oct 08 12 07:11 pm Link
Oscar Partida wrote:
I would say probably. I like the color scheme- especially the blue of the model's dress (and it looks great on her!) and the lighting is lovely. Also nice pink flowers in the model's hair. I just don't really like the model's pose- she looks awkward and the expression is not good.
Oct 08 12 07:29 pm Link
Kimmi Fox wrote:
Yes. You have a really unique and beautiful look. I love your ice blue eyes with your milky skin and the orange hair looks good on you. I also like the way you've styled your hair and how the bangs look. And you have an interesting pose going on- as well as quite a few tattoos (they're lovely!) Nice makeup. Just think your expression could be more expressive.
Oct 08 12 07:55 pm Link
Posts: 2
SOUTHINGTON, Connecticut, US
Ill play
Oct 08 12 08:06 pm Link
Misa Ka wrote:
Probably. Though I think your face is a bit too made up -- too much blush but the eye makeup and lips look good. The dress is cute and the background is nice and neutral. Pose could be more in interesting though and your expression is okay- but could be more engaged.
Oct 09 12 11:41 am Link
Oct 09 12 12:26 pm Link
Oct 09 12 09:28 pm Link
Posts: 36
Detroit, Michigan, US
i'll play!
Oct 09 12 09:35 pm Link
MichAMORE wrote:
Yes. Though this image kind of looks like a snap shot, I like your look. Nice black curled hair, lovely makeup and features, interesting and cool dress. Pose could be better though to show off the dress more and also expression could be more engaged. Also, I like the color scheme.
Oct 09 12 10:24 pm Link
Posts: 69
Los Angeles, California, US
Oct 09 12 10:27 pm Link
Oct 10 12 01:51 pm Link
Lauren Arcadia wrote:
Yes. Although setting looks unprofessional- as if it's in a living room, your pose and styling is great. The dress looks really good on you and shows of your figure well. Those high heels are hot as well. Decent makeup but your expression could be more engaged though.
Oct 10 12 09:49 pm Link
Posts: 345
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
i'll like to know
Oct 10 12 09:59 pm Link
Steven Due Photography wrote:
Probably not. I don't love the crop of this- usually like to see the model's face.
Oct 10 12 10:16 pm Link
Posts: 7
Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Do I fit the bill?
Oct 10 12 10:21 pm Link
Oct 11 12 08:48 am Link
Posts: 30
Durham, North Carolina, US
Any comment on a better avatar?
Oct 11 12 06:02 pm Link
Posts: 519
Antioch, California, US
I'll play...
Oct 11 12 06:12 pm Link
Posts: 19
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
sure why not
Oct 11 12 06:15 pm Link
Oct 11 12 09:24 pm Link
Posts: 4512
Columbus, Ohio, US
My turn?
Oct 11 12 09:30 pm Link
Posts: 31
Savannah, Georgia, US
Oct 11 12 09:35 pm Link
Posts: 8
Abbeville, Alabama, US
let me know
Oct 11 12 09:41 pm Link
Isabella55 wrote:
Maybe. This image looks a little snap shotty but I like the way your hair is curled and the makeup. Though it's nice that you have long neck, it seems like the way your head is tilted is not the most flattering. Overall, nice colors and choice of black outfit. However the expression can be much improved - more engaging.
Oct 12 12 08:26 am Link
Posts: 24
Hope, Alaska, US
I'd love some feedback! :-)
Oct 12 12 08:30 am Link
Neaktarose wrote:
No. I don't really like the pose, expression (looks like you're just staring with a blank expression). Though the outfit is interesting and you do have lovely blue eyes.
Oct 12 12 09:35 am Link
steph amberlyn stewart wrote:
I would say maybe. While I like the lighting, your hair and lovely features.. I don't like the pose and that you're all scrunched up- It makes you look short and I can't see how well your body photographs (since it's so close up). It looks like you have a cute dress on but since can only see a little bit, can't tell for sure. Also can't tell how it looks on you. I also don't like the crop -top and bottom. But you do seem to have a nice look. Your makeup and expression are decent.
Oct 12 12 09:54 am Link
Posts: 1
Babylon, New York, US
Why not lets see what you have to say! Always good to get info from models to see what we as photographers can do better.. thanks
Oct 12 12 10:01 am Link
Posts: 668
Tampa, Florida, US
Do tell ?
Oct 12 12 10:05 am Link
Posts: 59
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Oct 12 12 10:08 am Link
Irving Images wrote:
I would say maybe. I do like the color scheme and the lighting. The eyeshadow looks good on the model - and I like her hair so you've done a good job capturing that. I also like the scarf on the model. Her expression is a little blank though and I do not like the circles under eyes- something to watch for especially when doing a closeup face shot.
Oct 13 12 10:40 pm Link


text:
Professor Ambrasseys
Nicholas (Nick) Ambraseys Dip.Eng DIC PhD FICE FREng, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and long-term member of the College staff, died peacefully at his home in Putney on 28th December 2012 at the age of 83, after a short illness.
Nick first came to Imperial in the early 1950s to study for a PhD and DIC, which were awarded in 1958. He spent the first three years of his academic career as a lecturer at Imperial, followed by a few years in Greece and the USA, returning to Imperial in 1964, where he remained until his death. He became Professor of Engineering Seismology in 1974 and was Head of the Engineering Seismology Section from 1971 to 1994, when he retired. He remained active until the end, holding grants, supervising PhD students and publishing papers; indeed two manuscripts are currently under review by one of the leading journals in his field.
His research covered earthquakes and their effects on the ground, structures and populations. His early work was concerned with the response of earth dams to earthquakes, particularly large dams in the Himalayas (e.g. at Mangla). However, early on in his career he began studying historical accounts of earthquakes, particularly those occurring in the eastern Mediterranean region, and it is in this field where he arguably made his greatest contributions. His meticulous study of historical documents on earthquakes occurring in the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere (e.g. Central America) is second-to-none and he published many dozens of articles and books on this painstaking work. In 2009 his magnum opus on eastern Mediterranean seismicity, 'Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East'), comprising almost 1000 pages, was published. While establishing his reputation as the leading scholar of historical seismicity of the Eastern Mediterranean, he continued to work on the assessment of earthquake ground motions and the collection and analysis of strong-motion (accelorometric) data. Much of this work was conducted within the frameworks of the Strong-Motion Working Groups of the European Seismological Commission and the European Association of Earthquake Engineering, which Nick led for much of the past forty years, work which has been very influential for seismic hazard assessment in Europe and the Middle East.
In all his work he sought to act as a bridge between earth sciences and engineering and between research and practice. His approach was influenced by the knowledge and insights he gained during dozens of post-earthquake field missions in various parts of the world, many of which were under the aegis of UNESCO. These missions led to a series of reports that had an impact on the reconstruction of the earthquake-damaged cities such as Skopje and Managua. His great ability with languages (fluent in three or four and comprehension of many others) was an important factor in sustaining good contacts with people of many nationalities.
In recognition of his lifetime of achievements he was given numerous awards and fellowships from prestigious institutions, for example: Busk Medal for Scientific Discovery from the Royal Geographical Society (1975), Mercenary Award of the European Association of Earthquake Engineering (1975), Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (1985), Honorary Fellowship of the Society of Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics (1986), Honorary Fellowship of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (1992), Honoris Causa from University of Athens (1993), Member of the European Academy (1997), Award of the Freedom of the City of Skopje (1998), Harry Fielding Reid Medal of the Seismological Society of America (2006), Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellowship of the Geological Society and Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society. From his election in 2003 he was an active member of the First Section of the Academy of Athens and he divided his time between London and Athens.
Nick Ambraseys' contributions to engineering seismology and earthquake engineering were immense, wide-ranging, covered almost 60 years, and he will be sadly missed. The Department, in particular the Geotechnics Section, are planning to recognise his contribution by organising a memorial to him, to coincide with the 2014 Rankine Lecture, scheduled for 19 March 2014. He is survived by his wife, Xeni.
On Wednesday March 19 2014 a half-day symposium was held at the Royal Geographical Society in London, to commemorate the work of Prof. Ambraseys. The presentations which were made on that day are now available here.
Areas of expertise
Earthquake hazard assessment, the earthquake resistant design of dams and foundation and strong-motion seismology.
Professor Ambraseys' publications
Professional activities
- Trained at Imperial as a Civil Engineer and specialising in soil mechanics, joined the staff in 1958. He Reader in engineering seismology in 1968 and Professor in 1974 also at Imperial College.
- In 1968 he established the Engineering Seismology Section at Imperial and he was its Head between 1971 and 1994.
- He retired in 1994 and reappointed as Senior Research Investigator at Imperial, a position that he holds today.
- Professor Ambraseys has published widely (298) and delivered the British Geotechnical Society's 2004 Rankine Lecture.
- He has served as a consultant on earthquake engineering problems to industry in the UK and overseas, to the European Commission as well as to the United Nations. Between 1963 and 1986 he lead more than 30 UN earthquake field mission to various parts of the World.
- He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the European Academy, of the Academy of Athens and the medallist of a number of UK and European learned societies.
Professor Ambraseys has given advice on the following projects:
Mamgla Dam Project, Pakistan
Kalabagh Dam Project, Pakistan
Polyphyto Dam, Greece
Hong Kong Water Scheme, Hong Kong
Gheshlagh Dam, Iran
Sar Cheshmeh Project, Iran
Karun II & III Dams, Iran
Chira Piura Dam Project, Peru
Yarmuouk Valley Project, Jordan
Mantaro Irrigation Project, Peru
El Mukheibeh Dam, Jordan
Hamam Grouz Dam, Algeria
Zarqa Project, Jordan
Jijel Steel Plant, Algeria
Cheliff Dam Project, Algeria
Mornos Dam, Greece
Stiegler Gorge Project, Tanzania
Hong Kong Sewage System, Hong Kong
Jamuna Crossing, Bangladesh
Employment history
- 1994 to present: Senior Research Investigator and Senior Research Fellow Department of Civil Engineering
Academic qualifications
1952: Dipl.Rural Eng., National Technical University, Athens
1956: DIC Imperial College of Science & Technology
1958: Ph.D., University of London
1980: D.Sc (Eng), University of London
Professional qualifications
- 1985: Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
- 1997: Member of the European Academy
- Member of the Academy of Athens
Professor Ambraseys has been a member of the following committees (selection):
1963 - 1971: Chairman, British National Committee for Earthquake Eng.
1964 - 1975: Vice-President, European Association for Earthquake Eng.
1963 - 1978: Director, International Assoc. for Earthquake Eng.
1977 - 1981: Chairman, Internatl.Commiss. for the Protection of Histor. Monuments (UNESCO/ICOMOS)
1979 - 1981: Vice-Chairman, UNESCO Internatl.Advisory Committee on Earthquake Risk
1964 - 1983: U.K. National Delegate, European Assoc. for Earthquake Eng
1975 - 1985: Royal Society Representative, British Natl.Committee for Geodesy & Geophysics
1961 to present: U.K. National Delegate, International Assoc. for Earthquake Engineering
1979 to present: Chairman, Strong-motion Studies Group, European Association for Earthquake Engineering
1989 - 1993: Member, UK Delegation of the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority
Professor Ambraseys has edited the following publications:
- Journal for Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics
- Journal of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering
- Bolletino Geofisica Pura et Applicata, Trieste
- Annali di Geofisica, Rome
- Journal of Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering
- Journal of International Disaster Studies l Journal Soil Mechanics & Earthquake Engineering
Professor Ambraseys has led the following UN/UNESCO Earthquake Field Missions:
Iran (1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978)
Africa: Uganda, Ruanda, Kenya, Congo, Tanganyika (1962, 1964)
Jugoslavia (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1979)
Turkey (1966, 1967, 1969)
Nicaragua (1972, 1973)
Pakistan (1975; 1977)
Italy (1976)
Romania (1977)
Algeria (1980; 1983)
Greece (1969)
Professor Ambraseys has taken part in the following UN/UNESCO major projects
1964 - 1971: Reconstruction of the city of Skopje, Jugoslavia (UN)
1972 - 1973: Reconstruction of the city of Managua, Nicaragua (World Bank)
- 1975: Busk Medal for Scientific Discovery, Royal Geographical Soc.
- 1975: Mercenary Award of the European Assoc. for Earthquake Eng.
- 1992: Hon. Fellow, International Assoc. Earthq. Engineering.
- 1986: Hon. Fellow, Soc . Eart hq. Eng. & St ruct. Dyn amics, The Inst.Civ.Eng.
- 19 93: Doct.Hon.Causa, Univ. of Athens.
- 1998: Award Freedom of the City Skopje, Nov.
- Fellow, Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE)
- Fellow, Geological Society, London (FGS)
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS)

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
GraphicRiver Digital Studio Letter D Logo 11251567
Category: Logo Template | Comment: ( 0 )
GraphicRiver Digital Studio Letter D Logo 11251567
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text:
Who is your favorite Silverwing character? (WARNING: Minor spiolers..just mini ones)
I found a new book recently, it's amazing! It has so many twists and turns, you can't predict anything! It's so shocking! You may think you know what's gonna happen…then BLAHMO! YOU KNOW NOOOTHING! XD
Anyway, my point is it is very well written, has many surprises, and lovable characters. Here's a brief summery…
Shade is the man character, he is a Silverwing bat in a colony of Silverwings, and a runt. His rivalry with Chinook, a rather strong bat, the one who torments and calls him runt, really starts it all. In his curiousity to see the sun..it causes a series of events to happen, and sets him off on an amazing adventure. Also, his father who died looking for the Humans who gave him and thousands of other bats these metal bands on their forarms. Shade is determinded to figure out the secret of the bands, and find his father. But many obsticles stand in his way, like Human cities, a cruel hard travel to Hibernaculum, and 3 foot long cannibal bats. The migration goes well until he gets lost from his colony..the adventure to follow is amazing.
I am currently 2/3's of the way through the sequel, Sunwing. Even the sequals have absolutely SHOCKING events that you would never guess to happen. There are three books in the series; Silverwing, Sunwing, and Firewing. Kenneth Oppel (My new favorite author!) has another bat book, in which I plan to read after finishing the Silverwing series. It's called Darkwing, and sounds reaaaally cool! It goes millions of years back..I don't know much, but I know I'm gonna read it!
Please check these books out, and more from Kenneth Oppel! (Not like I've read his others…or care to 😛 I like his bat stuff ^^) REAAADD ITT (And don't flip through the books, spoilers are EVERYWHERE!)
My best friend Olivia!
Hiya! It's me again, but, I'd like to tell yaz about my bffl Olivia. She's such a greatb friend, we have so much in common, and to give a shoutout to her, thanks for being an awesome friend. 🙂 *hugz* We have sooooo many inside jokes! And I'll tell you a FEW. The rest remain our special little secrets *snickers*. Once, we went to Izzy's together, and a small green pea somehow got on the windowseal (we were in a booth by the window) and we sat there looking at it…..it was staring at us almost, and were like: ITS GONNA KILL US!! (if u dont find it funny, dont complain to me!! neggitive comments shall be pounded with awesome come-backs. u had to have been there)…well….anywho….those are some of our jokes. tho we have many! but yeah, this post is just to thank her, for sticking up for me, being funny and kind, and being who she is. thanks eternaly Olivia.


text:
I love to observe other lifestyles when I travel. Flying through the Swiss countryside on the Golden Pass Railroad from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen, I caught sight of this little girl sitting on her back porch of her house which was right alongside the traintracks, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, reading a book. We saw a lot of beautiful sights today, but this is my favorite picture of the day.
This picture doesn't quite capture how beautiful it is in Lauterbrunnen...I had tears in my eyes for the first ten minutes after we arrived.


text:
Get the Book
Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction
COMMENTS: New Cambridge University brain study. Subjects were carefully screened porn addicts. Compared with controls, they habituated faster to sexual images. That is, their brains became less activated seeing the same image...they were more quickly bored. Thus, the novelty of internet porn drives the addiction to it, creating a circular spiral of needing more novelty to overcome faster habituation. But this desire for novelty in porn addicts was NOT pre-existing. That is, the 'chicken' is porn use and the 'egg' is novelty-seeking.
People who show compulsive sexual behaviour – sex addiction – are driven to search more for new sexual images than their peers, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge. The findings may be particularly relevant in the context of online porn, which potentially provides an almost endless source of new images.
In a study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, researchers also report that sex addicts are more susceptible to environment 'cues' linked to sexual images than to those linked to neutral images.
Sex addiction – when an individual has difficulty controlling their sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour – is relatively common, affecting as many as one in 25 young adults. It is heavily stigmatised and can lead to a sense of shame, affecting an individual's family and social life as well as their work. There is no formal definition of the condition to help with diagnosis.
In previous work led by Dr Valerie Voon from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, scientists found that three brain regions were more active in sex addicts compared with the healthy volunteers. Significantly, these regions – the ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate and amygdala – were regions that are also activated in drug addicts when shown drug stimuli.
In the new study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, Dr Voon and colleagues studied the behaviour of 22 sex addicts and 40 'healthy' male volunteers undergoing tasks. In the first task, individuals were shown a series of images in pairs, including naked women, clothed women and furniture. They were then shown further image pairs, including familiar and new images, and asked to choose an image to 'win £1' – although the participants were unaware of the odds, the probability of winning for either images was 50%.
The researchers found that sex addicts were more likely to choose the novel over the familiar choice for sexual images relative to neutral object images, whereas healthy volunteers were more likely to choose the novel choice for neutral human female images relative to neutral object images.
"We can all relate in some way to searching for novel stimuli online – it could be flitting from one news website to another, or jumping from Facebook to Amazon to YouTube and on," explains Dr Voon. "For people who show compulsive sexual behaviour, though, this becomes a pattern of behaviour beyond their control, focused on pornographic images."
In a second task, volunteers were shown pairs of images – an undressed woman and a neutral grey box – both of which were overlaid on different abstract patterns. They learned to associate these abstract images with the images, similar to how the dogs in Pavlov's famous experiment learnt to associate a ringing bell with food. They were then asked to select between these abstract images and a new abstract image.
This time, the researchers showed that sex addicts were more likely to choose cues (in this case the abstract patterns) associated with sexual and monetary rewards. This supports the notion that apparently innocuous cues in an addict's environment can 'trigger' them to seek out sexual images.
"Cues can be as simple as just opening up their internet browser," explains Dr Voon. "They can trigger a chain of actions and before they know it, the addict is browsing through pornographic images. Breaking the link between these cues and the behaviour can be extremely challenging."
The researchers carried out a further test where 20 sex addicts and 20 matched healthy volunteers underwent brain scans while being shown a series of repeated images – an undressed woman, a £1 coin or a neutral grey box.
They found that when the sex addicts viewed the same sexual image repeatedly, compared to the healthy volunteers they experienced a greater decrease of activity in the region of the brain known as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, known to be involved in anticipating rewards and responding to new events. This is consistent with 'habituation', where the addict finds the same stimulus less and less rewarding – for example, a coffee drinker may get a caffeine 'buzz' from their first cup, but over time the more they drink coffee, the smaller the buzz becomes.
This same habituation effect occurs in healthy males who are repeatedly shown the same porn video. But when they then view a new video, the level of interest and arousal goes back to the original level. This implies that, to prevent habituation, the sex addict would need to seek out a constant supply of new images. In other words, habituation could drive the search for novel images.
"Our findings are particularly relevant in the context of online pornography," adds Dr Voon. "It's not clear what triggers sex addiction in the first place and it is likely that some people are more pre-disposed to the addiction than others, but the seemingly endless supply of novel sexual images available online helps feed their addiction, making it more and more difficult to escape."
More information: Paula Banca et al. Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards, Journal of Psychiatric Research (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.10.017
Paula Banca, Laurel S. Morris, Simon MitchellNeil A. Harrison, Marc N. Potenza, Valerie Voon (Dr)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.10.017
The Internet provides a large source of novel and rewarding stimuli, particularly with respect to sexually explicit materials. Novelty-seeking and cue-conditioning are fundamental processes underlying preference and approach behaviors implicated in disorders of addiction. Here we examine these processes in individuals with compulsive sexual behaviors (CSB), hypothesizing a greater preference for sexual novelty and stimuli conditioned to sexual rewards relative to healthy volunteers. Twenty-two CSB males and forty age-matched male volunteers were tested in two separate behavioral tasks focusing on preferences for novelty and conditioned stimuli. Twenty subjects from each group were also assessed in a third conditioning and extinction task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. CSB was associated with enhanced novelty preference for sexual, as compared to control images, and a generalized preference for cues conditioned to sexual and monetary versus neutral outcomes compared to healthy volunteers. CSB individuals also had greater dorsal cingulate habituation to repeated sexual versus monetary images with the degree of habituation correlating with enhanced preference for sexual novelty. Approach behaviors to sexually conditioned cues dissociable from novelty preference were associated with an early attentional bias to sexual images. This study shows that CSB individuals have a dysfunctional enhanced preference for sexual novelty possibly mediated by greater cingulate habituation along with a generalized enhancement of conditioning to rewards. We further emphasize a dissociable role for cue-conditioning and novelty preference on the early attentional bias for sexual cues. These findings have wider relevance as the Internet provides a wide range of novel and potentially rewarding stimuli.
Keywords: novelty, cue-conditioning, sexual reward, dorsal cingulate habituation, addiction, attentional bias
Why is online surfing so compulsively engaging to many individuals? The Internet provides a large source of novel and potentially rewarding stimuli. Novelty-seeking, attentional bias and cue-conditioning are fundamental processes that may drive unconscious preference and approach decisions in daily life. These processes may also contribute to the development and maintenance of disorders of addiction.
Novelty-seeking may be both a predictor and consequence of disorders of addiction. This trait, which is often assessed using the Zuckerman's sensation-seeking scale, has been repeatedly found elevated in diverse behavioral and substance addictions (Belin et al., 2011, Redolat et al., 2009). A suggested explanation for this strong relationship relies on the hypothesis that exposure to novelty may activate, at least in part, the same neural machinery that mediates the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse (Bardo et al., 1996). In rodent studies, novelty preference predicts a transition towards compulsive cocaine-seeking behaviors (Belin and Deroche-Gamonet, 2012). In human studies, sensation-seeking is associated prospectively with binge drinking in adolescents (Conrod et al., 2013).
Conditioned signals or cues in our environment may also significantly influence behavior. The smell of cigarettes, places or friends associated with drug use, or the sight of money may act as conditioned cues and may enhance reactivity and trigger cravings, urges and relapse in disorders of addiction (for review see (Childress et al., 1993)). These cues are neutral stimuli that may inadvertently acquire motivational significance through the process of conditioning with repeated pairing with either drug rewards or other biologically relevant natural rewards such as food (Jansen, 1998) or sex (Pfaus et al., 2001, Toates, 2009).
The processing of novelty and learning has been proposed to include a functional polysynaptic loop involving the hippocampus, ventral striatum, and midbrain dopaminergic region (Lisman and Grace, 2005). Detection of novelty, long-term memory encoding and learning involves dopaminergic activity that enhances hippocampal synaptic plasticity which, through glutamatergic projections to the ventral striatum, relays information to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) which then projects directly back to the hippocampus (Knight, 1996, Lisman and Grace, 2005). With repeated exposure, the hippocampus and midbrain dopaminergic responses to novelty decrease, conferring habituation when stimuli become familiar (Bunzeck and Duzel, 2006, Bunzeck et al., 2013). Converging primate and human studies also show that phasic dopaminergic activity encodes prediction error, a comparison between the actual and expected outcomes indicating an unexpected salient outcome, acting as a teaching signal underlying conditioning processes (Schultz et al., 1997). Mesolimbic dopaminergic cell bodies in the midbrain project to a network including the striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and hippocampus (Williams and Goldman-Rakic, 1998). The dACC is implicated in attentional responding to novel and salient events and in processing reward anticipation and prediction error (Ranganath and Rainer, 2003, Rushworth et al., 2011).
In addition to novelty-seeking and cue-conditioning influences, the tendency to preferentially process cues related to the object of addiction (attentional biases) is also an important feature that characterizes disorders of addiction (Ersche et al., 2010, van Hemel-Ruiter et al., 2013, Wiers et al., 2011). The influence of emotional stimuli on attentional processes is widely reported both in healthy and clinical samples (Yiend, 2010). Attentional biases towards substance-related stimuli have been found in substance-use disorders for alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, opiates and cocaine (Cox et al., 2006). Moreover, a direct association between highly arousing sexual pictures and attentional interference has also been found in healthy individuals, which seems to be influenced by sexuality-related attitudes and sexual motivation (Kagerer et al., 2014, Prause et al., 2008). We have previously extended these findings to individuals with compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB) using a dot-probe task (Mechelmans et al., 2014).
With increasing access to the Internet, there is growing concern regarding the potential for excessive use. A study that assessed the predictive power of several types of Internet applications (gaming, gambling, email, etc.) on the development of compulsive Internet use suggested that online sexually explicit stimuli have the highest potential for addictive/compulsive use (Meerkerk et al., 2006). Online explicit stimuli are vast and expanding, and this feature may promote escalation of use in some individuals. For instance, healthy males viewing repeatedly the same explicit film have been found to habituate to the stimulus and find the explicit stimulus as progressively less sexually arousing, less appetitive and less absorbing (Koukounas and Over, 2000). However, subsequent exposure to a novel explicit film segment increases the levels of sexual arousal and absorption to the same previous levels prior to habituation, suggesting important roles for novelty and habituation. Imaging studies have identified a specific network for the neural processing of sexual stimuli in healthy humans, comprising the hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens, orbitofrontal, occipital and parietal areas (Wehrum et al., 2013, Wehrum-Osinsky et al., 2014). This neural network, which is independent of general emotional arousal, is found both in men and women although men show overall stronger activations than women, which might be indicative of a stronger sexual responsivity in men. The same neural network activates for stimuli conditioned sexual arousal, with a gender effect in the same direction (Klucken et al., 2009).
In our study, we assess novelty, attentional bias and cue-conditioning to online explicit sexual material in individuals with CSB. These processes are highly relevant to substance-use disorders and may also be relevant to CSB. Online sexually explicit stimuli have significant potential for compulsive use, and CSB is relatively common, occurring in 2 to 4% in community and college-based young adults and in psychiatric inpatients (Grant et al., 2005, Odlaug and Grant, 2010, Odlaug et al., 2013). CSB is associated with significant distress, feelings of shame and psychosocial dysfunction. Although a working group for the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases is currently proposing to include CSB as an impulse-control disorder (Grant et al., 2014), CSB was not included in DSM-5, albeit with some controversy (Toussaint and Pitchot, 2013), largely due to limited data. Thus, further studies are needed. Understanding the similarities and differences between CSB and other psychiatric disorders, particularly impulse-control disorders and addictions, may help with classification efforts as well as with the development of improved prevention and treatment approaches.
We have previously found that individuals with CSB demonstrate greater regional brain activation in response to explicit sexual cues in the ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and amygdala, regions implicated in drug cue reactivity and craving in disorders of addiction (Voon et al., 2014). Functional connectivity of this network, and particularly the dACC, was associated with greater sexual desire or motivation to explicit stimuli. We further observed that individuals with CSB, as compared to those without, demonstrate an early attentional bias towards sexually explicit cues (Mechelmans, Irvine, 2014). This early attentional bias was proposed to reflect facilitatory mechanisms underlying the motivational effect of cues conditioned to sexual outcomes. Here, we deepen our research focus investigating the mechanisms underlying the development of enhanced attentional bias and cue reactivity in CSB by assessing both behavioral and neural responses to novelty and to cue-conditioning in response to explicit sexual stimuli.
We conducted two behavioral tasks outside of the scanner to assess choice preference for novel versus familiar sexual stimuli and choice preference for cues conditioned to Sexual, Monetary and Neutral stimuli. We hypothesized that CSB individuals relative to healthy volunteers (HVs) would have greater choice preference to novel relative to familiar images in the Sexual condition but not in the control condition. We further hypothesized that CSB subjects would have greater choice preference to the conditioned cues in the Sexual condition but not in the Monetary condition.
Participants also performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conditioning and extinction task involving conditioning to Sexual, Monetary and Neutral images. Two neutral stimuli were randomly paired with different sexual images shown repeatedly during conditioning. In the outcome phase of the conditioning arm, neural habituation to the sexual images was assessed by evaluating the change in neural activity of each different sexual image over time focusing on the repeated exposure thereby dissociating the analysis of the conditioning and outcome phases. We hypothesized that CSB subjects relative to HVs would show enhanced neural activity to the Sexual versus Neutral conditioned stimuli particularly in the dACC and striatum, regions previously identified in sexual cue reactivity in CSB subjects (Voon, Mole, 2014). We further hypothesized that CSB subjects compared to HVs would show greater neural habituation to Sexual compared to Neutral stimuli.
The recruitment has been extensively described elsewhere (Voon, Mole, 2014). CSB subjects were recruited via Internet-based advertisements and therapist referrals. HVs were recruited from community-based advertisements in East Anglia. CSB subjects were interviewed by a psychiatrist to confirm they fulfilled diagnostic criteria for CSB (proposed diagnostic criteria for Hypersexual Disorder; criteria for sexual addiction) (Carnes et al., 2001, Kafka, 2010, Reid et al., 2012), focusing on compulsive use of online sexually explicit material.
All CSB subjects and comparably aged HVs were male and heterosexual given the nature of the cues. HVs were matched in a 2:1 ratio with CSB subjects to increase statistical power. Exclusionary criteria included being under 18 years of age, history of substance-use disorders, current regular user of illicit substances (including cannabis), and having a serious psychiatric disorder, including current moderate-severe major depression (Beck Depression Inventory > 20) or obsessive-compulsive disorder, or history of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory) (Sheehan et al., 1998). Other compulsive or behavioral addictions were exclusions, which were assessed by a psychiatrist, including problematic use of online gaming or social media, pathological gambling or compulsive shopping and binge-eating disorder.
Subjects completed the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (Whiteside and Lynam, 2001), Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983) and the Alcohol-Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Saunders et al., 1993). The National Adult Reading Test (Nelson, 1982) was used to obtain an index of IQ.
Two CSB subjects were taking antidepressants and had comorbid generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia: social phobia (N=1) and a childhood history of ADHD (N=1).
Written informed consent was obtained and the study was approved by the University of Cambridge Research Ethics Committee. Subjects were paid for their participation.
Twenty-two CSB subjects and 40 comparably aged male volunteers were tested in a novelty-preference task and two conditioning-preference tasks reported here, and an attentional bias task (dot-probe task) reported elsewhere (Mechelmans, Irvine, 2014). The tasks were carried out after the fMRI experiment, in a counterbalanced order.
Subjects were familiarized to three categories of stimuli (Sexual images, Neutral human images and Neutral object images) and then performed a choice-discrimination testing phase, choosing between novel versus familiar stimuli matched within each category (Figure 1A). In the familiarization phase, six images were shown to the participant: 2 images of undressed women (Sexual condition), 2 images of dressed women (Control1) and 2 images of a piece of furniture (Control2) (2 images per condition). The 6 images were randomly presented in pairs to the participants, in a total of 48 trials (16 trials each condition). The duration of each trial was 5 sec. To ensure engagement with the task, subjects were instructed to carefully study the images because they would be asked questions during the familiarization phase. Simple questions about the images were randomly posed during the task in the inter-trial interval (e.g., to indicate which woman had her arms crossed using the right or left arrow: 'Arms crossed'). Each question was relevant to the previously viewed pair of images, hence ensuring that subjects maintained attention to each pair of images.
Novelty and conditioning behavioral measures. A. Novelty preference: task and outcomes. Subjects were familiarized with sexual images and two non-sexual control images followed by a choice-discrimination task involving choosing between a familiar or matched novel choice randomly (p=0.50) associated with winning. The graph shows the proportion of novelty choices across trials in subjects with compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) and healthy volunteers (HV). B. Conditioning: task and outcomes. The sexual conditioning task is shown. During conditioning, two black-and-white visual patterns (CS+Sex and CS-) were followed by sexual or neutral images respectively. During choice discrimination testing, subjects chose between CS+Sex and CS- paired with novel visual-pattern stimuli (A and B). The CS+Sex and CS- stimuli were associated with greater probabilities of winning. The graphs show the proportion of conditioned stimuli choices across trials of CSB and HV for Sexual outcomes (left) and Monetary outcomes (right). *Group-by-Valence interaction: p<0.05.
In the testing phase, subjects viewed three image-pairs consisting of a familiarized image and a novel image matched for each experimental condition. Six images were used: 3 familiar, selected from the previous familiarization phase (one for each of the three conditions) and 3 new images (one novel for each condition). The image-pair was shown for 2.5 seconds followed by a 1-second feedback (win £1 or win nothing). A total of 60 trials (20 trials each condition) were presented. The probability of winning for any of the images was random at p=0.50. The subject was instructed to choose one of the stimuli from the pair with the goal to make as much money as possible and told that they would receive a proportion of their earnings. They were instructed that the first trial would be a guess but that one of the stimuli would be associated with a greater likelihood of winning. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of novel choices across trials for each condition. Since the learning contingencies used here were purely random (p=0.50), the outcome measure exclusively indicates a stimuli preference. After the study, subjects were asked to rate attractiveness of the female subjects on a scale of 1 to 10 following testing. Task duration was 8 minutes (4 min for the training and 3.5 min for the testing phase).
Subjects were tested on two conditioning preference tasks in a counterbalanced order, both consisting of a conditioning phase and a testing phase (Figure 1B). Both tasks had the same design but one focused on sexual and the other on monetary conditioning.
In one training phase, two visual patterns (CS+Sex, CS-), presented for 2 seconds, were conditioned to an image of an undressed female or a neutral grey box (1-second outcome), respectively. This was followed by an inter-trial interval of 0.5 to 1 second. Sixty trials were presented in total (30 CS+ and 30 CS-). To ensure task engagement, subjects were instructed to keep track of the number of times they saw a red square around the outcome image, and they reported this number at the end of the training phase.
The training phase was followed by a testing phase in which the CS+Sex and CS- stimuli were each paired with a novel visual-pattern stimulus (e.g. Image A or Image B respectively). Subjects were asked to choose one of the stimuli from the stimulus pair (e.g. CS+Sex or Image A; CS- or Image B; duration 2.5 seconds), which was followed by feedback of win £1 or win nothing (duration 1 second). The CS+Sex and CS- had a greater probability of winning (p=0.70 win £1/p=0.30 win nothing) relative to the novel paired stimulus (p=0.70 win nothing/p=0.30 win £1). Subjects were tested for 40 trials in total (20 trials per condition) and were told the goal was to make as much money as possible and that they would receive a proportion of their earnings. They were instructed that the first trial would be a guess but that one of the stimuli would be associated with a greater likelihood of winning.
In the second training and testing task, a similar task design was used paired with monetary outcomes: a different set of visual patterns was conditioned (CS+Money, CS-) to the image of £1 or a neutral grey box. Subjects were told they would win a proportion of the money they viewed. A similar testing phase followed.
As the CS+ and CS- stimuli were associated with higher probabilities of winning, we assessed novelty choice preference of the first trial to assess initial approach behaviors and the proportion of times the CS+ and CS- stimuli were selected across all trials to assess the influence of choice preference of the cue on instrumental learning. Each task lasted approximately 7 minutes (4 min for the training and 2.5 min for the testing phases).
Twenty CSB subjects and 20 matched HVs were scanned performing a conditioning and extinction task (Figure 3A ). In the conditioning phase, six images (colored patterns) were used as conditioned stimuli (CS+) paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US) image of an undressed female (CS+sex), £1 (CS+money) or a neutral grey box (CS-). Two CS+ were paired per outcome. Five different images of undressed females were used for the sexual outcomes and repeated 8 times over the course of conditioning. The CS+ duration was 2000 msec; at 1500 msec, the US was overlaid for 500 msec and followed by a response block with a central fixation point, which ranged from 500 to 2500 msec. To maintain attention to the task, subjects pressed the left button for the money outcome, the right button for the person outcome, and either button for the neutral outcome during the fixation period. Subjects viewed a total of 120 trials (20 per CS+ or 40 per condition) in the conditioning phase. The conditions were randomly presented. In the extinction phase, each CS+ was shown for 2000 msec without the US for a total of 90 trials (15 per CS+ or 30 per condition) followed by a fixation point (500 to 2500 msec). Thus, at 1500 msec, subjects would expect an outcome, which was unexpectedly omitted. Prior to the study, subjects were trained outside of the scanner on 20 trials of a similar design with different CS+ and images of females, money and neutral items to practice the motor response during the response block. During the practice, subjects viewed images of dressed females but were told that in the scanner, they might see explicit stimuli. All tasks were programmed using E-prime professional v2.0 software.
Relationship between choice preferences and attentional bias across groups. The left graph shows early attentional bias scores for sexual versus neutral stimuli (higher scores indicated greater bias towards sexual versus neutral stimuli) in subjects who preferred the CS+Sex as compared to CS- as the first choice across both groups. *p<0.05. The right graph shows early attentional bias scores for sexual versus neutral stimuli in subjects who preferred the novel sexual stimulus as compared to the familiar stimulus.
Conditioning imaging task and habituation. A. Imaging task. During conditioning, subjects viewed six colored patterns followed by a Sexual, Monetary or Neutral image. The extinction phase followed, during which the conditioned stimulus was shown without the unconditioned stimulus. B. Habituation. Habituation of dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) activity in compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) subjects versus healthy volunteers (HV) to repeated Sexual versus Neutral images. The image shows the comparison of the first and last half of the trials. C. Slope and intercept of dACC habituation. The graphs show the slope or degree of habituation (left graph) of beta values of the dACC in CSB and HV individuals and the intercept or initial activity of CSB versus HV (right graph) of Sexual – Neutral (Sex) and Monetary – Neutral (Money) images. *Valence and Group-by-Valence effects p<0.05; **Valence effect p<0.05.
Subject characteristics were analysed using independent t-tests or Chi Square. Data was inspected for outliers (>3 SD from group mean) and tested for normality of distribution (Shapiro Wilks test). Choice preference averaged across all trials for both novelty and conditioning tasks were assessed using mixed measures ANOVA with the between-subjects factor of Group (CSB, HV) and within-subject factor of Valence (Sexual, Control1, Control2; CS+, CS-). Choices for the first trial were also analyzed using Chi-Square tests. P<0.05 was considered significant.
Participants were scanned in a 3T Siemens Magnetom TimTrio scanner, at the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, with a 32-channel head coil. Anatomical images were obtained using a T1-weighted structural image using an MPRAGE sequence (TR=2300 ms; TE=2.98 ms; FOV 240 x 256 x 176 mm, voxel size 1x1x1 mm). fMRI data were acquired using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast whole-brain echo-planar imaging (EPI) with the following parameters: 39 interleaved axial slices per volume, TR 2.32 s, TA 2.26, TE 33 ms, 3mm slice thickness.
Data analyses were conducted using Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM 8) (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm). Pre-processing consisted of slice-time correction, spatial realignment, coregistration with the subjects' T1-weighted structural images, normalization, and spatial smoothing (full-width at half-maximum of 8 mm). The first 4 volumes of each session were discarded to allow for T1-equilibration effects.
Statistical analyses were performed using a general-linear-model (GLM) modeling the conditioning and extinction phases for both conditioned stimuli and outcomes separately for all 3 categories. Realignment parameters were included to correct for motion artifact. The time of onset of the outcome omission in the extinction phase used was 1500 msec after the onset of the stimulus (or the time at which the outcome would have been expected in the conditioning phase) with a 500 msec duration.
For each condition, the conditioned stimuli (CS+Sex, CS+Money, CS-) were averaged across trials separately for the conditioning and extinction phase, and also for the outcome in the extinction phase. The two different stimuli were averaged within the same condition. In the second level analysis, we used a full factorial analysis (repeated measures ANOVA) comparing Group, Valence and Interactions for averaged trials. The different phases of the imaging task and description of the analyses is further illustrated in Figure 4.
Illustration of conditioning, habituation and extinction This figure illustrates the phases of the imaging task in which the conditioned stimuli are paired with outcomes (CS+sex shown here; CS+money conditioned to monetary outcomes and CS- conditioned to neutral outcomes were randomly interspersed and are not shown) and extinction phase in which only the conditioned stimuli are shown without the outcome. Two different CS+ for each outcome type or CS- were conditioned over 20 trials per stimulus. Five different sexual images (shown here with differing colours of the female stick image) were randomly paired with the two different CS+sex and were each shown 8 times. For the habituation analysis, the change in time of these repeated outcomes was analysed.
For the habituation analysis of the outcomes in the conditioning phase, we created regressors for the first and last half of the Sexual and Neutral outcomes in the first level analysis. Subjects were shown 5 different Sexual images 8 times across both CS+Sex trials. Thus for Sexual images, the first half corresponded with the first 4 Sexual image exposures for each of the 5 different images and the last half, the last 4 Sexual image exposures for each of the 5 different images. In the second level analysis, using a full factorial analysis, we compared activity in the first and last half of the Sexual versus Neutral outcomes using a between-subject factor of Group, and within-subject factors of Valence and Time. For all above analyses, whole brain cluster corrected FWE p<0.05 was considered significant.
As we identified an interaction between Group x Valence x Time in the dACC, we then used an SPM Toolbox, MarsBaR (MARSeille Boite A Region d'Interet), to extract the beta values on a trial-by-trial basis for each individual using the dACC central coordinate and radius of 5 mm. In the first level analysis, we created regressors to evaluate change on a trial-by-trial basis. For example, 8 regressors were created for the sexual outcome consisting of different sexual outcomes shown 8 times. We calculated the slope and intercept points of each of the three outcomes for each individual. The slope and intercept points were then separately entered into a mixed-measures ANOVA comparing Group as a between-subject factor and Valence as a within-subject factor. P<0.05 was considered significant.
Similarly, a psychophysiological-interaction analysis was conducted with the same dACC region-of-interest (ROI) seed comparing early versus late exposure to the sexual outcomes. In all analyses, activations above family-wise error (FWE) whole-brain corrected p<0.05 and 5 contiguous voxels were considered significant. We further conducted region of interest analyses focusing on a priori regions using WFU PickAtlas small volume correction (SVC) FWE-corrected with a Bonferroni correction for multiple ROI comparisons (p<0.0125).
The characteristics of the CSB and HVs are reported in Table 1.
|T/Chi square
|25.14 (4.68)
|25.20 (6.62)
|Abstinence (days)
|32 (28.41)
|High school
|Current Univ.
|College degree
|Univ. undergrad
|Masters degree
|110.49 (5.83)
|111.29 (8.39)
|Relationship status
|Curr. relationship
|Part-time work
|Full-time work
|Current Smoking status
|Body mass index
|24.91 (3.64)
|23.19 (4.38)
|Binge Eating
|6.91 (6.46)
|5.72 (6.17)
|Alcohol use
|7.13 (4.11)
|6.29 (3.41)
|11.03 (9.81)
|5.38 (4.89)
|44.59 (13.19)
|36.15 (13.29)
|49.54 (13.91)
|38.23 (14.57)
|Obsessive compulsive
|19.23 (17.38)
|12.29 (11.72)
|150.83 (17.95)
|130.26 (23.49)
Abbreviations: CSB = subjects with compulsive sexual behavior; HV = healthy volunteers; BES = Binge Eating Scale; AUDIT = Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; BDI = Beck Depression Inventory; SSAI/STAI = Speilberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventory; OCI-R = Obsessive Compulsive Inventory; UPPS-P = UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale
For the averaged choice preference across 20 trials, there was a trend towards a Valence effect (F(1,59)=2.89, p=0.065) and a Group-by-Valence interaction (F(2,59)=3.46, p=0.035) and no Group effect (F(1,60)=1.47, p=0.230) (Figure 1A). Given the interaction effect, we conducted post-hoc analyses, which showed that CSB subjects had greater novelty preference for Sexual versus Control2 (p=0.039) whereas HV had greater novelty preference for Control1 versus Control2 (p=0.024).
For the choice preference for the first trial, although CSB subjects were less likely to choose the novel compared to familiar neutral stimulus (percent of first choice novel: Sexual, Control 1, Control 2: HV: 51.6%, 58.1%, 38.7%; CSB: 50.0%, 44.4%, 22.2%) there were no significant group differences (Sexual, Control1, Control2: Chi-square=0.012, 0.357, 0.235 p=0.541, 0.266, 0.193).
In summary, CSB subjects were more likely to choose the novel over the familiar choice for Sexual images relative to Neutral object images whereas HVs were more likely to choose the novel choice for Neutral human female images relative to Neutral object images.
For the averaged choice preference over 20 trials, there was a Valence effect (F(1,60)=5.413, p=0.024) and a Group-by-Valence effect (F(1,60)=4.566, p=0.037) in which CSB subjects were more likely to select the CS+Sex versus CS- compared to HVs (Figure 1B). There was no Group effect (F(1,60)=0.047, p=0.830). As there was an interaction effect, we conducted further post-hoc analyses: CSB subjects were more likely to select the CS+Sex versus the CS- (p=0.005) but not HVs (p=0.873). For the choice preference for the first trial, there were no differences between groups (percent of first choice CS+Sex: HV: 64.5%, CSB: 72.2%; Chi-square=0.308, p=0.410).
For the averaged choice preference over 20 trials, there was no significant effect of Valence (F(1,60)=1.450, p=0.235) or Group (F(1,60)=1.165, p=0.287). There was a Group-by-Valence effect (F(1,60)=4.761, p=0.035) (Figure 1B). For the choice preference for the first trial, there were no differences between groups (percent of first choice CS+Money: HV: 48.4%, CSB: 66.7%; Chi-square=1.538 p=0.173).
CSB subjects (attractiveness score 8.35, SD 1.49) had similar ratings of attractiveness of all female images relative to HVs (8.13, SD 1.45; t=0.566, p=0.573).
Thus, CSB subjects had greater preference for stimuli conditioned to either sexual images or money.
We further investigated if there was any relationship between our previously published findings of enhanced attentional bias to sexual images (Mechelmans, Irvine, 2014) and the current findings of initial choice preference for novelty or for CS+Sex. Using independent t-tests we assessed early attentional bias for the sexual versus neutral images comparing choice preference for subjects who chose the CS- versus CS+Sex and separately Familiar versus Novel stimuli. Across both groups, subjects who chose the CS+Sex as compared to those who chose the CS- had enhanced attentional bias for the sexual versus neutral stimuli (t=-2.05, p=0.044). In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference between subjects who chose the Novel as compared to the Familiar and attentional bias scores for the sexual compared to neutral stimuli (t=0.751, p=0.458) (Figure 2).
Thus, our previously reported findings of early attentional bias may be related to conditioning preferences for sexual stimuli rather than novelty preferences for sexual stimuli.
We first assessed averaged cue-conditioning across all trials. There was no Group effect. There was a Valence effect in which exposure to conditioned stimuli to Money (CS+Mon) and Sex (CS+Sex) as compared to Neutral (CS-) stimuli was associated with greater activity in the occipital cortex (all the following p-values report whole brain cluster corrected FWE p<0.05: peak cluster in Montreal Neurological Institute coordinates: X Y Z in mm: -6 -88 -6, Cluster size=3948, whole brain FWE p<0.0001), left primary motor cortex (X Y Z = -34 -24 52, Cluster size=5518, whole brain FWE p<0.0001) and bilateral putamen (left: X Y Z = -24 -2 4, Cluster size=338, whole brain FWE p<0.0001; right:X Y Z = 24 4 2, Cluster size=448, FWE p<0.0001), and thalamus (X Y Z = -0 -22 0, Cluster size=797, p<0.0001) activity. There was no Group-by-Valence interaction.
We then assessed the Extinction phase of the conditioned stimuli. There was a Valence effect in which CS+Sex and CS+Mon versus CS- exposure was associated with greater occipital cortex activity (X Y Z = -10 -94 2, Cluster size=2172, whole brain FWE p<0.0001). There were no Group or Interaction effects.
To examine effects of habituation to sexual novelty, we first investigated if any regions had a greater decrease in activity to Sexual outcomes in CSB subjects compared to HVs by comparing the Group x Valence x Time interaction of the first and last half of the Sexual imagery versus Neutral outcome phase. CSB subjects had greater decrease in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity over time (X Y Z = 0 18 36, Cluster size=391, whole brain FWE p=0.02) and right inferior temporal cortex (X Y Z = 54 -36 -4, Cluster size =184, whole brain FWE p=0.04) to Sexual versus Neutral outcomes compared to HVs (Figure 3B).
We then extracted the trial-by-trial beta values focusing on the dACC for Sexual, Monetary and Neutral outcomes. We compared the slopes (i.e., degree of habituation) and intercept points (i.e., activity to initial exposure) comparing Sexual – Neutral and Monetary – Neutral outcomes (Figures 3C). For the slope, there was a main effect of Valence (F(1,36)=6.310, p=0.017) and a Group-by-Valence interaction (F(1,36)=6.288, p=0.017). As there was an interaction effect, we conducted post-hoc analyses: there was a steeper decrease in dACC slope to Sexual outcomes in CSB compared to HVs (F=4.159, p=0.049) with no differences to Monetary outcomes (F=0.552, p=0.463). There was no main effect of Group (F(1,36)=2.135, p=0.153). For the intercept value, there was a main effect of Valence (F(1,36)=11.527, p=0.002) but no main effect of Group (F(1,36)=0.913, p=0.346) or interaction effect (F(1,36)=2.067, p=0.159). There were no correlations between the conditioning and outcome phases.
We assessed the omission of outcome during the Extinction phase across all trials. Here we had a very specific prediction that ventral striatal activity was decreased during outcome omission to previously rewarding outcomes consistent with a negative prediction error. There was an effect of Valence in which lower right ventral striatal activity was observed to the lack of Sexual and Monetary outcomes compared to Neutral outcomes (X Y Z 2 8 -10, Z=3.59, SVC FWE corrected p=0.036) (Figure 5A). There were no Group or interaction effects. There were no significant differences between Sexual and Monetary outcomes.
Extinction and functional connectivity. A. Omission of outcome during extinction. Decreased right ventral striatal activity in both groups for unexpected omission of Sexual and Monetary outcomes versus Neutral outcomes during extinction (Valence effect: p<0.05). B. Functional connectivity with repeated exposure. Psychophysiological interaction of individuals with compulsive sexual behaviours (CSB) and healthy volunteers (HV) individuals comparing early versus late exposure of sexual outcomes with a dorsal cingulate seed showing functional connectivity with right ventral striatum (left) and bilateral hippocampus (right). *p<0.05; **p<0.005.
Functional connectivity using psychophysiological interaction of the dACC contrasting early versus late exposure (the first 2 trials versus the last 2 trials) of the Sexual outcomes was also assessed. There was greater functional connectivity in the HVs compared to CSB subjects in the early compared to late trials between the dACC and right ventral striatum (X Y Z = 18 20 -8 mm, Z=3.11, SVC FWE-corrected p=0.027) and bilateral hippocampus (right: X Y Z = 32 -34 -8, Z=3.68, SVC FWE-corrected p=0.003; left: X Y Z = -26 -38 04, Z=3.65 SVC FWE-corrected p=0.003) (Figure 5B). Thus CSB subjects had greater functional connectivity between these regions late in exposure whereas healthy volunteers had greater functional connectivity early in exposure.
We investigated if there was a relationship between dACC habituation (slope) of the Sexual outcome with novelty preference for Sex – Control2 using Pearson correlation. Across subjects, the novelty preference for Sexual versus Control2 images was negatively correlated with the slope for sexual images (r=-0.404, p=0.037). Thus, greater sexual novelty preference was correlated with a more negative slope or greater dACC habituation.
We show that CSB subjects had greater choice preference for novel sexual images and for cues conditioned to both sexual and monetary stimuli compared to healthy volunteers. CSB subjects also had greater habituation of dACC activity to repeated sexual versus monetary images. Across all subjects, the degree of dACC habituation to sexual stimuli was associated with greater novelty preference for sexual images. This study builds on our previous findings of enhanced attentional bias (Mechelmans, Irvine, 2014) and cue reactivity (Voon, Mole, 2014) towards explicit sexual cues in CSB implicating a dACC-(ventral striatal)-amygdalar network. Here, we show that early attentional bias to sexual cues assessed using a dot-probe task was associated with greater approach behaviors towards cues conditioned to sexual images but not novelty preference. Thus, the findings indicate that possible mechanisms underlying early attentional bias to sexual cues observed in CSB subjects are closely aligned with cue-conditioning and enhanced approach behaviors towards sexual conditioned cues. Although novelty preference to sexual stimuli is also enhanced in CSB subjects, this behavior is unrelated to the observation of early attentional bias. This observation contrasts with a previous study in healthy volunteers, which shows a relation between attentional bias towards sexual stimuli and sexual sensation-seeking (Kagerer, Wehrum, 2014). This may be explained by a greater influence of cue-conditioning in individuals with pathology.
This enhanced preference for conditioned stimuli across both forms of reward (sexual and monetary rewards) suggests either that CSB subjects have greater reward sensitivity or generalization and transfer of the effects of conditioning between similar stimuli (Mazur, 2002). This phenomenon is in line with behavioral cross-sensitization observed in rodent studies between stimulants and incentive properties of natural rewards, such as sex proposed to involve dopaminergic mechanisms (Fiorino and Phillips, 1999, Frohmader et al., 2011). Applying such investigative approaches to individuals with other non-substance addictions like gambling disorder is warranted as initial studies have suggested differential neural activation patterns to monetary and sexual rewards in this population (Sescousse et al., 2013).
Although we have used the term habituation to explain the decrease in activity to repeated sexual stimuli, as this is assessed in the context of cue-conditioning during which cues are paired with the outcomes, one relevant process may be the effect of associative learning underlying the cue-conditioning in which dopaminergic activity to the unexpected reward shifts towards the cue with conditioning and thus decreases over time such that activity as the reward outcome becomes expected will decrease over time (Schultz, 1998). However, as (i) we randomized the 5 sexual images repeated 8 times across the two stimuli conditioned to sexual rewards; (ii) we did not observe any relationship between the decrease in dACC activity to repeated sexual stimuli with conditioning preference but did observe a relationship with sexual novelty preference, (iii) there were no group differences in imaging outcomes to the conditioned cues and no evidence of enhanced conditioning specific to sexual rewards, and (iv) CSB subjects had a preference for both stimuli conditioned to sexual and monetary rewards, we have suggested the process may be consistent with a habituation effect.
We further show that the unexpected lack of sexual or monetary reward is associated with lower right ventral-striatal activity across all subjects. Converging primate and human studies suggest that phasic dopamine encodes a prediction error with a positive prediction error to unexpected reward and a negative prediction error to unexpected lack of reward (Pessiglione et al., 2006, Schultz, 1998). This decrease in ventral-striatal activity to the unexpected lack of sexual or monetary rewards may be consistent with a negative prediction error, suggesting similar mechanisms underlying secondary and primary rewards, both of which may elicit conditioned preferences.
Novelty-seeking and sensation-seeking are associated with disorders of addiction across a range of substances including tobacco, alcohol and drug use (Djamshidian et al., 2011, Kreek et al., 2005, Wills et al., 1994). Preclinical studies demonstrate a role for novelty preference as a risk factor for drug-seeking behaviors (Beckmann et al., 2011, Belin, Berson, 2011), and similarly, higher sensation-seeking is a predictor of subsequent binge drinking in adolescents but not of eating disorders (Conrod, O'Leary-Barrett, 2013). Likewise, in Parkinson's patients who develop impulse control behaviors on dopamine agonists, novelty seeking is associated with externalizing rewards such as pathological gambling and compulsive shopping but not natural rewards such as binge eating or CSB (Voon et al., 2011). In our current study, there were no differences in sensation-seeking scores between CSB subjects and HVs, suggesting a role for novelty preference specific to the reward but not generalized novelty- or sensation-seeking. Our findings may be particularly relevant in the context of online explicit stimuli, which potentially provides an endless source of novelty, and may indeed differ from drug addiction in which ongoing novelty may be less of an issue.
We further show that CSB subjects had more rapid habituation of the dACC to repeated sexual images relative to monetary images. This finding may reflect repeated exposure to explicit online stimuli, similar to the observation of decreased putaminal activity to excessive use of online explicit materials in healthy male volunteers (Kuhn and Gallinat, 2014). Across all subjects, novelty preference to repeated sexual images was predicted by a greater habituation of dACC activity to sexual outcomes. We have recently shown enhanced dACC activity in CSB subjects to explicit videos (Voon, Mole, 2014), and the dACC has been implicated in both drug-cue reactivity and craving (Kuhn and Gallinat, 2011). In this previous study, the videos were sexually explicit and may have acted as conditioned cues and were shown infrequently, and hence they may have been less likely to be associated with habituation. Habituation was also not specifically assessed. The dACC receives extensive projections from midbrain dopaminergic neurons and is well-localized with multiple cortical connections to influence action selection. The dACC plays a role in detecting and planning appropriate behavioral responses to salient events during continuous behavioral adaptation (Sheth et al., 2012). Alternatively, the dACC is also implicated in reward-motivated behaviors, particularly prediction about future rewards and reward-prediction errors (Bush et al., 2002, Rushworth and Behrens, 2008). Thus, the role of the dACC may be related to effects of salience or unexpected reward.
The assessment of novelty involves the comparison of incoming information with stored memory mediated by a polysynaptic hippocampal-(ventral striatal)-(ventral tegmental area) loop suggested to combine information on novelty, salience and goals (Lisman and Grace, 2005). Our observation of enhanced dACC-(ventral striatal)-hippocampal connectivity in CSB subjects with repeated exposure to sexual outcomes despite a decrease in dACC activity may represent a network involved in the aberrant encoding of hippocampal-dependent memory to repeated sexual imagery.
The study has important strengths. This is the first investigation into the neural underpinnings of novelty and cue-conditioning processes in CSB, with the investigation permitting insights into specific aspects of the behavioral and neural correlates of these processes. We show experimentally what is observed clinically that CSB is characterized by novelty-seeking, conditioning and habituation to sexual stimuli in males. However, some limitations should also be acknowledged. First, the study involved solely young heterosexual men. Although this feature can be seen as a strength by limiting heterogeneity, it can also be a limitation with respect to generalization to women, other age groups and individuals with other sexual orientations. Second, CSB participants were generally more anxious, depressed, and impulsive and showed a trend for more obsessive-compulsive features. Although we did not find a direct effect of these variables in our results, we cannot exclude the possibility that they may have influenced the findings. Third, there were no significant differences in the imaging analyses of conditioning, extinction cues, extinction outcome. Our imaging findings support the behavioral processes of sexual novelty but we did not observe imaging findings to support the findings of conditioning preferences. Larger samples, more explicit images, or facilitating consolidation with subsequent testing represent important considerations for future studies that may generate different results. Fourth, this study used imagery that could be perceived as erotic rather than sexually explicit. Further studies using sexually explicit materials may differentiate between conditioning effects to monetary and sexually explicit stimuli.
We highlight the role of enhanced preference for sexual novelty and a generalized enhancement of conditioning to rewards in CSB subjects involving dACC habituation. These findings extend our recent observations that CSB subjects have greater sexual cue reactivity in a network involving the dACC, ventral striatum and amygdala (Voon, Mole, 2014) and enhanced attentional bias to sexually explicit cues (Mechelmans, Irvine, 2014). We emphasize a role for cue-conditioning dissociable from novelty preference underlying this observation of enhanced early attentional bias for sexual cues. These findings have potential wider relevance as the Internet provides a vast source of novel and potentially rewarding stimuli, particularly with respect to sexually explicit material. Future studies should examine the extent to which the current findings might relate to clinically relevant measures related to CSB, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. These findings suggest a role for targeting dissociable cognitive processes in the therapeutic management of CSB.
Conceived and designed the experiments: VV. Performed the experiments: PB, SM and VV. Analyzed the data: PB, LSM, SM, VV. Wrote the paper: PB, NAH, MNP and VV.
PB is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (individual fellowship: SFRH/BD/33889/2009). Dr. Voon is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow and the study was funded by the Wellcome Trust (WT093705/Z/10/Z). Channel 4 was involved in assisting with recruitment by placing ethics-approved advertisements for the study on Internet sites. The advertisements provided contact details of the study researchers for interested participants.
The material is original research, has not been previously published and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors PB, LM, SM, NH, MNP and VV declare no competing financial interests.
We would like to thank all the participants who took part in the study and the staff at the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre. We also acknowledge Channel 4 for helping with recruitment and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Wellcome Trust for funding.


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AbandonAid Announces New Software Release Featuring Global Multi-Language, Multi-Currency Support for Asia and More
Release includes universal multi-language and multi-currency support, enabling online retailers worldwide to benefit from AbandonAid's cart recovery technology
Jan 21, 2014, 14:09 ET from AbandonAid
NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, January 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
AbandonAid, the ecommerce industry's fastest-growing provider of cart and process abandonment solutions, announced today details of their latest software release for Q1 2014. For the first time, online merchants working in virtually any language or currency will now be able to use AbandonAid's popular cart abandonment solution without any customization work required for implementation. This multi-language release supports all European languages (Spanish, French, German, Russian, etc.) plus Asian languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Thai, and more.
AbandonAid's technology is engineered to identify and support global languages and currencies on the fly. Through our snippet of code, the system automatically recognizes abandonments from any webpage in any region, language, and currency. Unlike other abandonment solutions that require heavy customizations to accommodate non-US and European markets, AbandonAid reaches far beyond the English-speaking world, which is a critical breakthrough particularly for the Asian and Latin American markets that are now undergoing significant ecommerce expansion.
Ecommerce has accelerated globally in recent years, especially in Asia and Pacific Rim countries that now account for 32% of global ecommerce sales, according to PayPal and Mastercard. In China, for example, Bain & Co. reports that shoppers spent $213 billion online in 2013 alone. However, as sales have grown, so too has cart abandonment.
"We designed our platform to meet the needs of online merchants in any region using proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms in real time and at massive scale," said James Oppenheim, CEO of AbandonAid. "To be clear, our vision means more than just accommodating a large volume of users. It also includes geographic scale and multilingual expansion."
Furthermore, Mr. Oppenheim added, "The Asian market especially is experiencing explosive growth, and we're delighted that ecommerce has penetrated retail for hundreds of millions of consumers. AbandonAid is proud to meet the needs of merchants and credit card processors worldwide, as it is our mission to recover sales for any site around the globe quickly, easily, and effectively."
Ecommerce merchants globally can now benefit from AbandonAid's state-of-the-art technologies and data-full reporting. Setup is simple and quick, and the AbandonAid self-service platform and dashboard was built from the ground up for ease of use. Merchants can configure and design their cart recovery campaigns in any language, allowing for improved remarketing and increased revenue.
About AbandonAid
AbandonAid was founded in 2012 to conquer one of the biggest problems in ecommerce today: cart abandonment. Today, AbandonAid is the industry's fastest-growing provider of abandoned cart and process abandonment solutions. In addition, AbandonAid powers CartGrader™, a first-to-market diagnostic tool providing web stores with rich actionable data insights around their abandonment problems and checkout processes. AbandonAid offers US$500 in recovered sales for free just to try the service, with no obligation or credit card required. For more information, visit http://www.abandonaid.com.
Contact: Dena Goldberg - firstname.lastname@example.com - +1-646-583-2770
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Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin
The Department "Regulation in Infection Biology"
headed by Max Planck Director Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier is seeking a
Scientific Referent (of the Director)
for a full-time employment (39 hours/week) of initially 2 years.
The Department "Regulation in Infection Biology"
headed by Max Planck Director Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier is seeking a
Scientific Referent (of the Director)
for a full-time employment (39 hours/week) of initially 2 years.
- Organization of the daily scientific business within the department
- Handling external communication (correspondence, writing, editing)
- Preparation of personal data, reports, press releases and presentations for the Director
- Coordination of biosafety and scientific matters with other Departments at the Institute
- Management of teaching activities within the department
- Support in the organization of conferences, workshops, seminars and meetings
- Support in the administrative work
- Developing and establishing tools for the handling, storage and preservation of scientific data and publications
- Management and maintaining of databases for lab protocols, biological materials and lab documents
- PhD in Biochemistry, Genetics, Immunology, Microbiology and/or Molecular Biology
- A proven record of successful publications in highly respected international scientific journals
- An international post-doctoral experience abroad is considered as an advantage
- Expertise in scientific coordination or as a scientific referent is considered an advantage
- Excellent competence in software applications (office, database manager, reference and bibliography manager)
- An indispensable requirement for the candidate is to speak and write in excellent English and German
- Profound interest in the research topics of the Department (for more information visit http://www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/research/regulation_in_infection_biology/research)
- Friendly disposition, confident and responsible work ethics
- Working independently and as part of an international team
- Openness and interest in learning new tasks, ability to multi-task, meet tight deadlines
- Excellent organisational skills, ability for structured work and taking personal initiatives
- Self-motivated and enthusiastic to work in a competitive, dynamic, stimulating and interacting international scientific environment focusing on basic biological research
The Max Planck Society is committed to employing more handicapped individuals and especially encourages them to apply.
Applications will be accepted exclusively via our online application portal. If you are interested, please follow the link and upload your full application in English until June 20, 2016: https://recruitingapp-5133.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/326/Application/New/2?lang=eng
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During the preseason, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly was vocal about his plan to use the tight ends on his roster frequently. Kelly drafted Zach Ertz with this tactic in mind, and his intention was to take full advantage of all of his tight ends because of their versatility. As much as he spoke about this before the season began, it wasn't until Sunday that we saw this come to fruition.
The Eagles' tight ends shined during Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, proving that they should be targeted more frequently. Ertz and Brent Celek had three touchdowns between them and combined 97 receiving yards. Although James Casey did not have a touchdown, Matt Shaughnessy grabbing at Casey's collar was critical to the Eagles win. With only a three point lead on a third down and one minute and 42 seconds left in the game, it was this holding call that gave the Eagles a first down and solidified their victory.
The Cardinals obviously threw a fit over this call that allowed the Eagles to run out the clock and killed any chance of an Arizona comeback. Shaughnessy claims that he was just fighting off the pressure and that the call was bogus, but I'm going to agree with the Chip man on this one as he said: "They held the crap out of him."
After studying the Cardinals' defense, Kelly decided to use his three star tight ends. Knowing that the Arizona defense usually covers tight ends with only a safety, it was clear that Ertz, Celek and Casey could get open. This proved to be true throughout the game which ended in a 24-21 win for Philadelphia. After all of the talk of taking advantage of the Eagles' tight ends, I'm glad Kelly finally utilized them.


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Byron Pitt lives and breathes cinema, displaying a rare and sometimes explosive passion for the silver screen - often with unpredictable results. GeekPlanetOnline is proud to present a movies column from the self-confessed "film drunk"; a man who once yelled at an entire cinema for laughing at Johnny English…
For the last week and a bit the hills have been alive with the sound of Potter tweets. For a decade the franchise has delighted many a book reader and film goer alike. This week has the last entry winging its way to cinemas to much acclaim. The buzz has been good, the retrospectives plenty and despite not being a massive fan (although I've softened to the later films slightly) it's quite a pleasant end to a franchise that many have enjoyed and grown up with.
Oh... but Armond White has seen it also.
For those who don't know, Armond White is a reviewer for the New York Press (amongst others) whose reviews have been considered... contrary to say the least. Much has been said about his delivery of Toy Story 3's first negative review last year on Rotten Tomatoes (he slammed its branding and product placement, and called fans non-thinking suckers) while highly rating films like Transformers 2 (you know, the film based on the toyline) as brilliant (Bay is considered a real visionary in the first paragraph). I won't state too much of the past here and have provided the links for your pleasure.
It's been a bit quiet on the Armond Front. I have not seen the usual outrage that stems from film fans about him. I'm guessing that this year, for the most part, his usually outspoken reviews have fallen in line with everyone else. However it seems with Harry Potter going out to stud for Warner Bros, White has decided to take no prisoners.
White bashes director David Yates as a director with no talent and considers the Potter franchise to be:
"Unintelligible fantasy epics that people went to out of consumerist habit and left unable to recount or fondly recall"
He describes The Lord of the Rings films similarly.
Although sometimes his work is an intriguing read, often sounding like a biased and arrogant oaf, it's safe to say that sometimes, it seems that White just likes to rile people, and his review of the final Harry Potter film seems no different. Once again a review like this will quickly get the mini-muggles on their soapboxes casting poisonous hexes on his colon (one stupid comment I saw was "I hope you die of aids and cancer while suffering from alzheimers").
Like I said before, I'm not a Potter fan but I still often question White. I have no problem with a critic disliking a film, but my issue with Armond has always been the way his opinion seems to pop up nearly every time something of any popularity or likability rears its head. There's also an air of hypocrisy with the guy.
A quick web glance has White lambasting other critics for arrogant behaviour while insulting audiences, adults and children alike, for even thinking that they could enjoy Toy Story 3. It's also interesting seeing White's reaction when Roger Ebert called him a troll.
""The guy has won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism" "Criticizing colleagues is not what we do."
A fair point. You shouldn't criticise colleagues right? So why Is White allowed to call the state of film criticism "intellectual anarchy" or call Village voice critic J Hoberman "pathetic", "despotic", "traitorous", "racist" and "the scoundrel-czar of contemporary film criticism"? Why is he also allowed to call Hoberman's associates in the film community as "brown shirts", "fascists", and "backwards children"? (Same article). He may have reasons behind his insults but it seems Ebert's troll statement is slight in comparison. Ebert also stated that he reacted in poor judgement; I've never heard anything like that come from White, no matter what he says about anyone, and I doubt I ever will.
Such frustration flows through his film writing for me. White makes a point in his Potter review that:
"It doesn't help that audiences are so accustomed to TV banality that they no longer watch or read movies visually; they simply follow dialogue and extol the CGI."
But it's hard to have that review ring true when his glowing review of Transformers 2 seems to forget all the CGI and simplistic A to B dialogue within that movie. Needless extended transformations that rotate round and do nothing for visual storytelling other than to once again state a robot is transforming. I'm surprised he sees so much in a film whose fans defend it for being all about the action and CGI and nothing else? I'm sure it almost creates a paradox. I'm also intrigued to know how he found poetry and meaning with TF2's haphazard and schizophrenic editing. But I'm falling into level upon level of subjectivity that I'm already trying to scramble out of.
But then with that said, how about the racism he found within District 9 or the stereotypes within Precious? Yet he had no problems with Norbit, Dance Flick and Transformers 2...and 1 and 3 for that matter.
Although he is thoroughly knowledgeable in his field and often carries interesting points (he has stated that criticism is still one of the only things providing space between the audience and marketing, and I agree), far too often White's writings reek of elitism, arrogance and bullying. Far too often in his reviews of more favoured films - both commercial and critical, you'll see him taking nagging pot shots at those who may generally like what they like, or at the personal grudges that have had him barred from screenings of certain directors' work. He often displays the type of macho posturing that you see in internet commentators on those online film sites he dislikes so much. Although he does have a point that such sites should have writers more versed in film history.
His admiration for Spielberg is great to see in a world that now dismiss him far too quickly, however his love often comes over as bias, as I've never seen him truly take Speilberg to task for any film. I am a firm believer that a film is a film is a film and whatever the franchise, director, actor or otherwise, the film should still be able to go either way. Once again I seemingly doubt this as the case for White.
White is far more suited to the realms of world cinema, as his writings on that are his best and most on point. And if there is one thing I like most about White, it's his ongoing wish to look for depth in films beyond surface level, often utilising history that other reviewers don't. However when it comes mainstream American cinema, I often get lost in his bizarre out-of-leftfield readings, while his "better than" lists have more of a jarring quality due both to the match ups he makes and the reasons why one is better than the other.
With this however, much like so many movies that are badly received only to grow to prominence, maybe Armond's writings will rase like a phoenix and provide a critical discourse to be followed much like Pauline Kael - but with that said more people like Harry Potter than hate it.
Note: My ramblings on Armond White a a bit dime a dozen, but then again no one is saying the same things about other non-conformists like Jonathan Rosenbaum and Ray Carney. I wonder why that is?


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Iraqi professor: "Life became like a slow film in which everyone dies"
There is something curious about narratives on Iraq. They are always about a war or some catastrophe. If you were to reduce all these narratives into an Ur-narrative the result would be a universal tragedy of human folly. In such narratives, war ends only to give birth to another, ad infinitum. So why do I keep bothering myself with such big issues? I am no Cultural Policeman. After all, neither did I choose to be here, nor was I given the privilege to avoid witnessing this nightmare. Yet, there I was, a little man attentively listening to the roar of history silently sweeping over the ruins of a country forever doomed to be conquered by the nations of the earth, past and present.
Back in 2003, the madness and magic of the times had just broken loose after the dramatic Hollywood-like toppling of the dictator's statue in Baghdad and the endless chain reaction it started. Suddenly, we were faced with the full dread of that moment of existential impasse: the evaporation of the regime and all its apparatuses. Imagine that you wake up one fine April morning to find that all the cops, soldiers, Baathists, officials – everyone down to traffic officers and street sweepers vanished with a slight gesture from the hand of a mighty Yankee sorcerer. In truth, they simply left or took to hiding, fearing revenge or the impending meting out of American justice. Khaki clothes and weapons abandoned on streets were common sights, but they did not compare to the arresting scenes of children playing on abandoned ordnance and tanks. The thunder of air raids was silenced, except in the restless dreams of those same children.