Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009
Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009 Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009
EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence S-22 48 February 11-13 2009 wi n n e r s , l o s e r s a n D b y s t a n D e r s : t h e s t r u c t u r e o f D o m i n a n c e h i e r a r c h i e s Dugatkin, Lee Alan Department of Biology, University of Louisville, USA Dominance hierarchies are a fundamental part of the social fabric of animals that live in groups, and behavioral ecologists have sought to understand the dynamics and stability of such dominance hierarchies. I present a family of models that my colleagues and I have developed to examine how winner effects, loser effects and bystander effects impact the structure and stability of dominance hierarchies. We have found that when winner effects alone are in play, a strict linear hierarchy emerges in which all individuals hold an unambiguous rank and fights are common. When examining loser effects in the absence of winner effects, a clear top-ranked individual always emerges, but the rank of others in the group is unclear. In addition, when loser effects are in play, interactions are primarily of the form “attack-retreat,” wherein one animal opts to fight, but the other does not.
EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence S-23 Abstracts for Speakers re-e X p o s u r e t o co m b a t in vi r t u a l re a li t y a s a tr e a t m e n t f o r ptsD Rizzo, Albert Institute for Creative Technologies University of Southern California, USA According to the DSM-IV [1], PTSD is caused by experiencing or witnessing an event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. Such events may include military combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage, rape, terrorist attack, torture, incarceration as a prisoner of war, natural or manmade disasters, automobile accidents, or being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The disorder also appears to be more severe and long lasting when the event is caused by human means and design (bombings, shootings, combat, etc.). Such incidents would be distressing to almost anyone, and are usually experienced with intense fear, horror, and helplessness. The essential feature of PTSD is the development of characteristic symptoms that may include intrusive thoughts, nightmares or flashbacks, avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event, emotional numbing, hyper-alertness, anger, isolation, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, survivor guilt, suicidal feelings and thoughts, negative self-image, memory impairment, problems with intimate relationships, emotional distance from family and others and denial of social problems. Symptoms of PTSD are often intensified when the person recalls or is exposed to stimulus cues that resemble or symbolize the original trauma in a non-therapeutic setting. Such uncontrolled cue exposure may lead the person to react with a survival mentality and mode of response that could put himself/herself and others at considerable risk. The violence of war is one of the most challenging environments that a human can experience. The cognitive, emotional and physical demands of a combat environment place enormous stress on even the best-prepared military personnel. Veterans exposed to combat are at increased risk of PTSD, with estimates of lifetime prevalence for PTSD at 26.9% and 30.9% for female and male veterans of the Vietnam War respectively, compared to a lifetime prevalence of 10.4% for women and 5% for men in the general population [2-4]. The Iraq/Afghanistan combat environments, with its ubiquitous battlefronts, ambiguous enemy identification and repeated extended deployments, was anticipated to produce a significant number of returning American Service Members (SMs) with PTSD and other mental disorders. Recent studies are now confirming this expectation in that significant numbers of veterans of the current combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are in fact at risk for developing PTSD [5-8]. Hoge and colleagues [5] administered an anonymous survey to U.S. SMs before and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Results of the PTSD Checklist (PCL) showed that following deployment to Iraq, a significantly higher percentage of SMs screened positive for PTSD (between 18 and 19.9%) than Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan (11.5%) 49
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<strong>EPFL</strong> <strong>Latsis</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> <strong>2009</strong>: Understanding Violence<br />
S-23<br />
<strong>Abstract</strong>s for Speakers<br />
re-e X p o s u r e t o co m b a t in vi r t u a l re a li<br />
t y a s a tr e a t m e n t f o r ptsD<br />
Rizzo, Albert<br />
Institute for Creative Technologies University of Southern<br />
California, USA<br />
According to the DSM-IV [1], PTSD is caused by experiencing or witnessing<br />
an event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat<br />
to the physical integrity of self or others. Such events may include military<br />
combat, violent personal assault, being kidnapped or taken hostage, rape,<br />
terrorist attack, torture, incarceration as a prisoner of war, natural or manmade<br />
disasters, automobile accidents, or being diagnosed with a life-threatening<br />
illness. The disorder also appears to be more severe and long lasting<br />
when the event is caused by human means and design (bombings, shootings,<br />
combat, etc.). Such incidents would be distressing to almost anyone,<br />
and are usually experienced with intense fear, horror, and helplessness. The<br />
essential feature of PTSD is the development of characteristic symptoms<br />
that may include intrusive thoughts, nightmares or flashbacks, avoidance of<br />
reminders of the traumatic event, emotional numbing, hyper-alertness, anger,<br />
isolation, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, survivor guilt, suicidal<br />
feelings and thoughts, negative self-image, memory impairment, problems<br />
with intimate relationships, emotional distance from family and others and<br />
denial of social problems. Symptoms of PTSD are often intensified when the<br />
person recalls or is exposed to stimulus cues that resemble or symbolize<br />
the original trauma in a non-therapeutic setting. Such uncontrolled cue exposure<br />
may lead the person to react with a survival mentality and mode of<br />
response that could put himself/herself and others at considerable risk.<br />
The violence of war is one of the most challenging environments that a<br />
human can experience. The cognitive, emotional and physical demands of<br />
a combat environment place enormous stress on even the best-prepared<br />
military personnel. Veterans exposed to combat are at increased risk of<br />
PTSD, with estimates of lifetime prevalence for PTSD at 26.9% and 30.9%<br />
for female and male veterans of the Vietnam War respectively, compared to<br />
a lifetime prevalence of 10.4% for women and 5% for men in the general<br />
population [2-4].<br />
The Iraq/Afghanistan combat environments, with its ubiquitous battlefronts,<br />
ambiguous enemy identification and repeated extended deployments, was<br />
anticipated to produce a significant number of returning American Service<br />
Members (SMs) with PTSD and other mental disorders. Recent studies are<br />
now confirming this expectation in that significant numbers of veterans of<br />
the current combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are in fact at risk for<br />
developing PTSD [5-8]. Hoge and colleagues [5] administered an anonymous<br />
survey to U.S. SMs before and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.<br />
Results of the PTSD Checklist (PCL) showed that following deployment<br />
to Iraq, a significantly higher percentage of SMs screened positive for PTSD<br />
(between 18 and 19.9%) than Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan (11.5%)<br />
49