Word: mentalism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...scientists who both offer the vision and raise the alarms. People with exceptional, photographic memories, they note, sometimes complain of mental overload. "Such people," says University of Iowa neurologist Dr. Antonio Damasio, "have enormous difficulty making decisions, because every time they can think of 20 different options to choose from." There is luxury and peace in forgetting, sometimes; it literally clears the mind, allows us to focus on the general rather than the specific and immediate evidence in front of us. Maybe it even makes room for reflection on questions like when better is not necessarily good...
...scientists bred strains of mice with extra copies of a gene coded for a protein that can facilitate communication between neurons. Since one popular theory of memory relates this primary mental capacity to an organism's ability to make associations--say, between a bee's buzz and the pain of its bite--this enhanced communication might promote the recording of associations within the brain, thus creating memories...
...single gene determines even the most concrete aspect of my physical anatomy, say the length of my right thumb. The very notion of a gene "for" something as complex as "intelligence" lapses into absurdity. Intelligence is an array of largely independent and socially defined mental attributes, not a measure of a single something, secreted by one gene, measurable as one number and capable of arranging human diversity into one line ordered by relative mental worth...
Though this "diagnosis" alone sheds virtually no fresh light on the subject, Smith--author of bios of CBS founder William Paley and international socialite Pamela Harriman--amply and sympathetially documents Diana's precarious mental state and her need for sustained professional help, a need that could never have been met while she remained within the netherworlds of Buckingham Palace and celebrity hangers...
...response and his predictably gruff defense of the N.Y.P.D. But the Busch shooting reflects a chronic problem, one that affects communities throughout the country. Increasingly, police action appears to be the only action that can be taken with EDPs. "Law-enforcement officers are serving as front-line mental-health workers," says Mary Zdanowicz, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, based in Virginia. "But by the time the police intercede, it's usually too late...