The detection of a luminance-defined Gabor is improved by two high contrast, aligned, flanking Gabors, an effect termed collinear facilitation. We investigate whether this facilitation also occurs for isoluminant chromatic stimuli, and whether it can occur for chromatic targets with luminance flanks and vice versa. We measured collinear facilitation for Gabor stimuli (0.75 cpd, 1 octave bandwid...

Population density affects individual performance, though its effects are often mixed. For sessile species, increases in population density typically reduce performance. Still, cases of positive density-dependence do occur in sessile systems and demand explanation. The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) predicts that under stressful conditions, positive effects of facilitation may outweigh the ne...

The purpose of this inquiry was to construct a model for facilitation of critical reflective practice, based on thorough analysis of the main concepts (critical thinking and reflection), related viewpoints, models and theories; and the data gathered and analyzed during, the naturalistic inquiry. The constructed model evolved from empirical observations, intuitive insights of the inquirer and fr...

The closer muscle of the crab, Chionoecetes, has at least two classes of excitatory neuromuscular synapses. In one class of synapses an action potential depolarizing the synaptic region releases much more transmitter if it has been preceded recently by another action potential. The other class of synapses shows this property, called facilitation, to a far lesser extent. Immediately after one co...

Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is common practice for increasing range of motion, though little research has been done to evaluate theories behind it. The purpose of this study was to review possible mechanisms, proposed theories, and physiological changes that occur due to proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation techniques. Four theoretical mechanisms were identified: autoge...

A series of experiments measured the audiovisual stimulus onset asynchrony (SOAAV), yielding facilitative multisensory integration. We evaluated (1) the range of SOAAV over which facilitation occurred when unisensory stimuli were weak; (2) whether the range of SOAAV producing facilitation supported the hypothesis that physiological simultaneity of unisensory activity governs multisensory facili...