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"The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism"Stephen Joseph FlemingScholars have long wondered about the source of Mormon doctrines, many of which differed significantly from the Protestantism that dominated Joseph Smith's environment. In 1994 John Brooke's Refiner's Fire proposed that Joseph Smith drew on Renaissance "hermeticism," esoteric beliefs influenced by the antique Corpus Hermericum. Mormon scholars criticized Brooke, often arguing for ancient connections inaccessible to Smith, while scholars of Western esotericism argued that the concept of hermeticism was problematic and that the esoteric ideas labeled hermetic were actually Platonic. This dissertation argues that Smith's quest to restore what he called "the fulness of the gospel," or the complete truth that was missing from contemporary churches and even the Bible itself drew from the thought of Christians influenced by Plato and is best understood as a form of Christian Platonism. Thus, for Smith, "the fulness of the gospel" included the restoration of divination, the central Christian-Platonic doctrine, as well as the rites and priesthood offices needed to achieve it.Though Smith would not have designated himself a Christian Platonist (most Christian Platonists would not have either), he gravitated towards such ideas, which were available to him through a variety of routes, including popular forms of religiosity embraced by his family; the views of key followers; and the scholarship of his day as summarized in histories, encyclopedias, and other reference works. Viewing Joseph Smith's folk practices, utopianism, temple rituals, soteriology, marital practices, and political ambition through a Christian-Platonic lens allows us to see underlying connections that make intelligible many disparate and peculiar aspects of early Mormonism.

Due to the numerous outside forces and factors which affect the housing and mortgage industry it is important to see the changes that have occurred in home financing to allow people a chance to understand and realize how the current market place affects them and their family. Since the 1960's the average price of a home has risen from $15,000 to a current average of $100,000. In an attempt to keep up with this increase, private lenders have had to develop new products which allow people to purchase the home of their dreams. However private lenders are not alone, government backed mortgages have had to adjust to the changing times and meet current public need. With the advent of our computerized world the small "mom and pop" mortgage company is giving way to the corporate giants who, after taking quite a hit in the foreign market, are coming back to the small consumer. This includes banks and large institutional investors. It is believed that further deregulation in the banking industry will leave in its wake roughly fifteen to twenty national banks or institutions who will control the finances of the country.

Abstract
The boundaries between waking and sleeping—when falling asleep (hypnagogic) or waking up (hypnopompic)—can be challenging for our ability to monitor and interpret reality. Without proper understanding, bizarre but relatively normal hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences can be misinterpreted as psychotic hallucinations (occurring, by definition, in the fully awake state), potentially leading to stigma and misdiagnosis in clinical contexts and to misconception and bias in research contexts. This Perspective proposes that conceptual and practical understanding for differentiating hallucinations from hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences may be offered by lucid dreaming, the state in which one is aware of dreaming while sleeping. I first introduce a possible systematization of the phenomenological range of hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences that can occur in the transition from awake to REM dreaming (including hypnagogic perceptions, transition symptoms, sleep paralysis, false awakenings, and out-of-body experiences). I then outline how metacognitive strategies used by lucid dreamers to gain/confirm oneiric lucidity could be tested for better differentiating hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences from hallucinations. The relevance of hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences and lucid dreaming is analyzed for schizophrenia and narcolepsy, and discussed for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Lewy-body disorders (i.e. Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's disease dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies), offering testable hypotheses for empirical investigation. Finally, emotionally positive lucid dreams triggered or enhanced by training/induction strategies or by a pathological process may have intrinsic therapeutic value if properly recognized and guided. The overall intention is to raise awareness and foster further research about the possible diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications of hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences and lucid dreaming for brain disorders.

Abstract
Slow waves during the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep reflect the alternating up and down states of cortical neurons; global and local slow waves promote memory consolidation and forgetting, respectively. Furthermore, distinct spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) operates in these up and down states. The contribution of different plasticity rules to neural information coding and memory reorganization remains unknown. Here, we show that optimal synaptic plasticity for information maximization in a cortical neuron model provides a unified explanation for these phenomena. The model indicates that the optimal synaptic plasticity is biased toward depression as the baseline firing rate increases. This property explains the distinct STDP observed in the up and down states. Furthermore, it explains how global and local slow waves predominantly potentiate and depress synapses, respectively, if the background firing rate of excitatory neurons declines with the spatial scale of waves as the model predicts. The model provides a unifying account of the role of NREM sleep, bridging neural information coding, synaptic plasticity, and memory reorganization.

Abstract
Speech is among the most complex motoric tasks humans ever perform. Songbirds match this achievement during song production through the precise and simultaneous motor control of two sound sources in the syrinx. Integrated and intricate motor control has made songbirds comparative models par excellence for the evolution of speech, however, phylogenetic distance with humans prevents an improved understanding of the precursors that, within the human lineage, drove the emergence of advanced vocal motor control and speech. Here, we report two types of biphonic call combination in wild orangutans that articulatorily resemble human beatboxing and that result from the simultaneous exercise of two vocal sound sources: one unvoiced source achieved through articulatory maneuvering of the lips, tongue, and jaw as typically used for consonant-like call production, plus one voiced source achieved through laryngeal action and voice activation as typically used for vowel-like call production. Orangutan biphonic call combinations showcase unappreciated levels of, and distinct neuromotor channels for, vocal motor control in a wild great ape, providing a direct vocal motor analogy with birdsong based on the precise and simultaneous co-control of two sound sources. Findings suggest that speech and human vocal fluency likely built upon complex call combination, coordination and coarticulation capacities that involved vowel-like and consonant-like calls in an ancestral hominid.

Widening polarization about political, religious, and scientific issues threatens open societies, leading to entrenchment of beliefs, reduced mutual understanding, and a pervasive negativity surrounding the very idea of consensus [1, 2]. Such radicalization has been linked to systematic differences in the certainty with which people adhere to particular beliefs [3, 4, 5, 6]. However, the drivers of unjustified certainty in radicals are rarely considered from the perspective of models of metacognition, and it remains unknown whether radicals show alterations in confidence bias (a tendency to publicly espouse higher confidence), metacognitive sensitivity (insight into the correctness of one's beliefs), or both [7]. Within two independent general population samples (n = 381 and n = 417), here we show that individuals holding radical beliefs (as measured by questionnaires about political attitudes) display a specific impairment in metacognitive sensitivity about low-level perceptual discrimination judgments. Specifically, more radical participants displayed less insight into the correctness of their choices and reduced updating of their confidence when presented with post-decision evidence. Our use of a simple perceptual decision task enables us to rule out effects of previous knowledge, task performance, and motivational factors underpinning differences in metacognition. Instead, our findings highlight a generic resistance to recognizing and revising incorrect beliefs as a potential driver of radicalization.

AbstractThe spatial distribution of covert visual attention following an exogenous cue is often described as a spotlight, which disregards depth. Here, we study the orienting of attention across binocular disparity, a key depth cue in primates. A small Gabor patch target was displayed at ±12-arcmin horizontal offset in each eye independently, resulting in four possible 3D locations. With some latency relative to target onset (0–300 ms), an attentional cue was displayed at one of five binocular locations, resulting in various combinations of relative azimuth (horizontal position) and disparity (depth). Observers' task was to discriminate the orientation of the target. Observers' performance decreased as the relative azimuth between the cue and the target increased. Performance also decreased with the difference in disparity, even when the azimuth remained constant. Performance varied with the delay between the cue and the target and was maximal between 100 and 150 ms. The orienting of attention in azimuth and depth followed the same time course. We mapped the 3D shape of attentional focus over time and found that the spatial envelope was approximately a Gaussian modulated in time. These results could not be explained by monocular confounds nor by eye movements. We conclude that exogenous cues direct attention not only to their visual direction but also to their depth and that binocular disparity is sufficient to define that depth. The identical time course and interaction between azimuth and depth suggest a shared mechanism, and therefore that visual attention to spatial location is an intrinsically 3D process.

Abstract
Binocular rivalry is a fascinating, widely studied visual phenomenon in which perception alternates between two competing images. This experience, however, is generally restricted to laboratory settings where two irreconcilable images are presented separately to the two eyes, an implausible geometry where two objects occupy the same physical location. Such laboratory experiences are in stark contrast to everyday visual behavior, where rivalry is almost never encountered, casting doubt on whether rivalry is relevant to our understanding of everyday binocular vision. To investigate the external validity of binocular rivalry, we manipulated the geometric plausibility of rival images using a naturalistic, cue-rich, 3D-corridor model created in virtual reality. Rival stimuli were presented in geometrically implausible, semi-plausible, or plausible layouts. Participants tracked rivalry fluctuations in each of these three layouts and for both static and moving rival stimuli. Results revealed significant and canonical binocular rivalry alternations regardless of geometrical plausibility and stimulus type. Rivalry occurred for layouts that mirrored the unnatural geometry used in laboratory studies and for layouts that mimicked real-world occlusion geometry. In a complementary 3D modeling analysis, we show that interocular conflict caused by geometrically plausible occlusion is a common outcome in a visual scene containing multiple objects. Together, our findings demonstrate that binocular rivalry can reliably occur for both geometrically implausible interocular conflicts and conflicts caused by a common form of naturalistic occlusion. Thus, key features of binocular rivalry are not simply laboratory artifacts but generalize to conditions that match the geometry of everyday binocular vision.

Abstract
Childhood stress has a deleterious impact on youth behavior and brain development. Resilience factors such as positive parenting (e.g. expressions of warmth and support) may buffer youth against the negative impacts of stress. We sought to determine whether positive parenting buffers against the negative impact of childhood stress on youth behavior and brain structure and to investigate differences between youth-reported parenting and caregiver-reported parenting. Cross-sectional behavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed from 482 youth (39% female and 61% male, ages 10–17) who participated in an ongoing research initiative, the Healthy Brain Network (HBN). Regression models found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and youth behavioral problems (β = −0.10, P = 0.04) such that increased childhood stress was associated with increased youth behavior problems only for youth who did not experience high levels of positive parenting. We also found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and decreased hippocampal volumes (β = 0.07, P = 0.02) such that youth who experienced high levels of childhood stress and who reported increased levels of positive parenting did not exhibit smaller hippocampal volumes. Our work identifies positive parenting as a resilience factor buffering youth against the deleterious impact of stressful childhood experiences on problem behaviors and brain development. These findings underscore the importance of centering youth perspectives of stress and parenting practices to better understand neurobiology, mechanisms of resilience, and psychological well-being.

When knowledge is scarce, it is adaptive to seek further information to resolve uncertainty and obtain a more accurate worldview. Biases in such information-seeking behavior can contribute to the maintenance of inaccurate views. Here, we investigate whether predispositions for uncertainty-guided information seeking relate to individual differences in dogmatism, a phenomenon linked to entrenched beliefs in political, scientific, and religious discourse. We addressed this question in a perceptual decision-making task, allowing us to rule out motivational factors and isolate the role of uncertainty. In two independent general population samples (n = 370 and n = 364), we show that more dogmatic participants are less likely to seek out new information to refine an initial perceptual decision, leading to a reduction in overall belief accuracy despite similar initial decision performance. Trial-by-trial modeling revealed that dogmatic participants placed less reliance on internal signals of uncertainty (confidence) to guide information search, rendering them less likely to seek additional information to update beliefs derived from weak or uncertain initial evidence. Together, our results highlight a cognitive mechanism that may contribute to the formation of dogmatic worldviews.

Abstract
Some conscious experiences are more vivid than others. Although perceptual vividness is a key component of human consciousness, how variation in this magnitude property is registered by the human brain is unknown. A striking feature of neural codes for magnitude in other psychological domains, such as number or reward, is that the magnitude property is represented independently of its sensory features. To test whether perceptual vividness also covaries with neural codes that are invariant to sensory content, we reanalyzed existing magnetoencephalography and functional MRI data from two distinct studies which quantified perceptual vividness via subjective ratings of awareness and visibility. Using representational similarity and decoding analyses, we find evidence for content-invariant neural signatures of perceptual vividness distributed across visual, parietal, and frontal cortices. Our findings indicate that the neural correlates of subjective vividness may share similar properties to magnitude codes in other cognitive domains.

Abstract
There is increasing evidence for the role of the gut microbiome in the regulation of socio-affective behavior in animals and clinical conditions. However, whether and how the composition of the gut microbiome may influence social decision-making in health remains unknown. Here, we tested the causal effects of a 7-week synbiotic (vs. placebo) dietary intervention on altruistic social punishment behavior in an ultimatum game. Results showed that the intervention increased participants' willingness to forgo a monetary payoff when treated unfairly. This change in social decision-making was related to changes in fasting-state serum levels of the dopamine-precursor tyrosine proposing a potential mechanistic link along the gut–microbiota–brain-behavior axis. These results improve our understanding of the bidirectional role body–brain interactions play in social decision-making and why humans at times act "irrationally" according to standard economic theory.