SINS OF MEMORY: WHY DO WE FORGET?

Types of Memory Failure

Transience

Transience refers to the general deterioration of a specific memory over time. Much more can be remembered of recent events than those further in one's past. This is especially true with episodic memory, because every time an episodic memory is recalled, it is re-encoded within the hippocampus, altering the memory each time one recalls it. Transience is caused because of interference. There are two types of interference: proactive interference (old information inhibits the ability to remember new information), and retroactive interference (new information inhibits the ability to remember old information).

Absent-mindedness

This form of memory breakdown involves problems at the point where attention and memory interface. Common errors of this type include misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or forgetting appointments, because at the time of encoding sufficient attention was not paid to what would later need to be recalled.

Conceptualization

Absent-mindedness seemingly consists of lapses of concentration or "zoning out". This can result in lapses of short or long term memory, depending on when the person in question was in a state of absent-mindedness. Absent-mindedness also relates directly to lapses in attention. Schachter and Dodsen say, that in the context of memory, “absent-mindedness entails inattentive or shallow processing that contributes to weak memories of ongoing events or forgetting to do things in the future”. This is common among teenagers and seniors.

Causes

Though absent-mindedness is a frequent occurrence, there has been little progress made on what the direct causes of absent-mindedness are. However, it tends to co-occur with ill health, preoccupation, and distraction.

Plus, there is a website dedicated entirely to absent-mindedness: Oops!, by the University of Waterloo  (Canada, unlike what the name may suggest). On this site, I recommend the following essay:

And this inspirational quote:

Unknown Author

Don’t let your mind wander; it’s far too small to be let out on its own.

Blocking

Blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve or encode information, but another memory interferes with it. Blocking is a primary cause of Tip of the tongue phenomenon (a temporary inaccessibility of stored information).

Misattribution

Misattribution is the first of the sins of commission which are discussed in the book. It entails correct recollection of information with incorrect recollection of the source of that information. For example, a person who witnesses a murder after watching a television program may incorrectly blame the murder on someone he or she saw on the television program. This error has profound consequences in legal systems because of its unacknowledged prevalence and the confidence which is often placed in the person's ability to impart correctly information critical to suspect identification.

Suggestibility

Suggestibility is somewhat similar to misattribution, but with the inclusion of overt suggestion. It is the acceptance of a false suggestion made by others. Memories of the past are often influenced by the manner in which they are recalled, and when subtle emphasis is placed on certain aspects which might seem likely to a specific type of memory, those emphasized aspects are sometimes incorporated into the recollection, whether or not they actually occurred. For example, a person sees a crime being committed by a redheaded man. Subsequently, after reading in the newspaper that the crime was committed by a brown-haired man, the witness "remembers" a brown-haired man instead of a redheaded man.

Loftus and Palmer's work into leading questions is an example of such suggestibility.

Bias

The sin of bias is similar to the sin of suggestibility in that one's current feelings and worldview distort remembrance of past events. This can pertain to specific incidences and the general conception one has of a certain period in one's life. This occurs partly because memories encoded while a person was feeling a certain level of arousal and a certain type of emotion come to mind more quickly when a person is in a similar mood. Thus, a contented adult might look back with fondness on his or her childhood, induced to do so by positive memories from that time which might not be actually representative of his/her average mood during his/her childhood.

Persistence

This failure of the memory system involves the unwanted recall of information that is disturbing. The remembrance can range from a blunder on the job to a truly traumatic experience, and the persistent recall can lead to formation of phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even suicide in particularly disturbing or intrusive instances.

ILLA FACIET: ON SHIREEN BARATHEON'S FUTURE

In Sweden, I have divulgated my own Vasatheon or Vasa=Baratheon Theory, in which the Baratheon brothers' struggle for the Iron Throne was likened to that of the Swedish House Vasa.

So, what’s more interesting:
Gustavus Vasa had three sons: Eric, John, and Charles.
The eldest, who became king after him, was unlucky in love, loved a well-set table, big game hunts, and wenches. More wenches! He died after consuming arsenic-laced pea soup.
So he left two bros fighting for the vacant throne. John was Catholic, an aesthete, not as sensuous as Eric but still a little sensuous, into the fine arts (he was Catholic because of the fine arts’ finery), and married to a Polish princess, Poland being Catholic and Sweden’s old enemy. Charles was stern, serious, no-nonsense, and a staunch Protestant… his brothers and courtiers saw him always as a stick in the mud, and his wife was Northern German. So these two didn’t get along, and the end of it was that Charles, then Duke of Värmland but proclaiming himself king, put John III and his Polish wife in prison. There, John III died. His wife managed to escape to Poland, where she had a son and they set up their claim for the Swedish throne. So Charles IX, once he had claimed the throne, had to fight wars against the Poles who saw him as a usurper, though he said the throne was his by right and by the grace of (Protestant) God…
And, needless to say, Charles IX burned and broke all the religious images (which to him were false idols, and to his brother were works of art) in Sweden.
Here’s the snag:
Eric XIV reminds me of Robert Baratheon.
John III and Charles IX would be Renly and Stannis, but reversing the birth order (Charles/Stannis was born the youngest)
House Jagellon of Poland: House Tyrell of Highgarden.
Catholicism: Faith of the Seven.
Protestantism: Faith of the Lord of Light.

Given the facts that:
The self-indulgent eldest brother (Eric/Robert) was first to die.
The aesthetically-minded brother (John/Renly) died the second, betrayed by...
The stern and pious brother (Charles/Stannis), now left as the sole survivor and fighting wars against enemies such as the (Poles/Tyrells)...
While destroying religious images and carrying out violent repression of (Catholic/believing in the Seven) opponents who refuse to accept him as king, branded as traitors and heretics, to legitimize his claim to the throne on religious grounds, in the name of (God [Protestantism] / R'hllor, the Lord of Light).

The parallels between the Baratheon and Vasa cases cannot be clearer.
But how will this neverending story come to an end?

Notably, both Charles IX and Stannis Baratheon were hard as iron, yet the fact that they had hearts was highlighted by the way they treated their young hopefuls. While both Stannis and Charles are being asked to confront their actions, they are giving their children, of whom they have great expectations to do what the fathers never could themselves, the best education and lots of loving care. Shireen is as loved by her father and as encouraged to learn as a child Gustavus Adolphus once was. And we all know what a wonderful person (brave, clever, kind, quick-thinking, righteous...) Gustavus became upon coming of age.
It must have been for a reason that an unusually emotive Charles IX liked to stroke his eldest son's golden hair as he said "Ille faciet": "He shall do it".
The same thoughts may be on Stannis's mind, though in feminine, obviously. Not knowing myself the Valyrian words for "She shall do it",  I would wish to express it as "Illa faciet".

And so my guess is that an adolescent Shireen Baratheon will outlive her father Stannis, put an end to the war, and sit on the Iron Throne. There is no doubt that she will be a better ruler than any of the feuding Baratheons of the previous generation.

THE ELONGATED SHADOW OF IAGO

SPOILER DISCLAIMER:
This post contains spoilers for Cinderella 2015, Frozen, and Westeros canon. Highlight if you wish to read them.

-- And what a character is Iago! undaunted John Eglinton exclaimed. When all is said Dumas fils (or is it Dumas père?) is right. After God Shakespeare has created most.

Let's face the facts: John Eglinton was freaking right. When Othello came out for the first time at Whitehall (at the then royal court of the Stuarts), the Bard of Avon had created a revolution in villainy. A revolution whose effects still last to our days, given the humongous amount of Chessmaster Magnificent Bastards and their Xanatos Gambits that have come to our days.

Already in the seventeenth century, playwrights created countless Iago expies. And that's not all... Let's skip to more recent times!
In my 1990s childhood, there was David Xanatos. As in Xanatos Gambit. And Scar, the usurper in The Lion King, described by Stefan Kanfer as "an Iago figure given the purr of motiveless malignity by Jeremy Irons".

In the present day, Hans of the Southern Isles and Petyr Baelish (AKA Littlefinger) owe an equally important due to the elusive ensign, being his descendants so to speak. And so do the wicked stepmother and the Grand Duke, retooled as an evil chancellor, who conspire in this year's (2015) springtime Cinderella.

SUBVERSIVE TRAITS OF OTHELLO

One of the reasons why Othello is my favourite Shakespearean tragedy is because it happens to be as subversive as a play from that era can be. And that because of certain traits of the story that set it apart from other tragedies and from most tropes in classical fiction:

Setting: In a manifest departure from the usual royal or courtly backdrops of the tragic genre, Othello takes place within a local outpost community on the fringe of two feuding great powers. The huis clos frontier/fortress setting, echoing militarism, hinterland provincialism, liminality, and a latent paranoia at every turn, is significantly deviant (frontier communities and fortresses are very rarely stable settings or the birthplace of characters in fiction, and when they appear, they are simply places to be captured by an invading army, to be defended by the territorial army, or state prisons). Within the walls of this keep, patriarchy coexists with free love (the female characters, all three incredibly assertive, are immune to Iago's deception and reveal it), organized religion with old traditional beliefs (the Moon is blamed for both Othello's loss of mettle and Cassio's drunken quarrel) and even freethought (Iago himself)... and the universe as beautiful order does not exist, chaos being the foundation for an ever-changing and unpredictable existence. Chaos as a pit for some and as a ladder for others.

There is also, aside from the place, the time: a post-bellum setting, peace and victory having come at last, but the threat of the vengeful enemy without looming in the distance... though the even more perilous enemy within is still unseen, and soon to disrupt it all... The keywords are all there: "Chaos is come again".


Cast: Fitting in with the setting in a peripheral/hinterland/liminal community, the characters are not precisely royalty and courtiers. Rather, they are all outsiders within the edge of their state order. While also being well-established "important people" with good reputations and niches within its power structure. Thus, their positions are contradictory. Throughout the tragedy, their reputations and relevant positions will be at stake, changing as their social masks fall and their true selves, be they good, evil, or a mix of both, are eventually revealed.

The three females (the newlywed socialite, the experienced middle-class wife, and the soon-to-marry fiancée/courtesan) are, by being female in a militaristic backwater, obviously outsiders all three, yet they make up for it with their incredible assertiveness. Neither Desdemona, Emilia, nor Bianca are afraid to speak their minds. And all three are immune to Iago's tricks, perchance because of their gender, their assertiveness, or both factors.

The male cast consists of Iago and self-made outsiders who, unlike the female cast, are insecure of their true selves, their doubts coming to light when Iago shatters their expectations.

Othello, for instance, is an obviously foreign-born and third-culture warlord who has reached the apex of his military career as a happily married and victorious general whose love is requited. Yet he is actually concealing serious latent insecurity: suspicions that his loved ones may turn their backs on him. Suspicions that Iago, little by little, encourages by undermining the general's trust by means of reverse psychology and a frame-up. Until, in the climax, the once great lord is no longer himself. When he snaps, not only does he beat his wife, but also attack his "trusted" right hand Iago, and suffer from somatic complaints like paranoia, fevers, or grand mal seizures. And, before stabbing himself, he bursts into tears, having already rejected the military profession before he killed his lady love "for her own good and that of others".

Then there's Roderigo, Desdemona's old flame, a shy violet who refuses (or rather hates) to accept that she got away. And he becomes Iago's crony to get her back, which foreshadows the downfall of the other male characters. At first born into the landed gentry, he has enlisted to stay close to her, no matter how out of his reach she might be, trusting the ensign blindly (if Iago told him that black is white and white is black, this lad would believe it) and following his harmful advice (to get the lieutenant drunk and provoke him, for instance) to the letter... until, at the end of the day, he realises that Iago's plans lead to nowhere, that he was being used by the ensign all along, and thus he rebels. It appears that having Desdemona near and fantasizing about her is the catalyst he has got... if she were within his reach, he would have no purpose for turning to Iago to. There we have insecurity in love, tied to introversion and wishful thinking...

Finally, there's Cassio, the only male character of importance who survives: at first, he is the catalyst for all the events since he got that rank (more on that below!). The archetypal gentlemanly young lieutenant, he is an outsider being a learned intellectual among military men, and having obtained a position of power with little or no effort. Though he has received approval, he'd also like to fit in among the other officers. Have got both a position and a peer group. No matter if he can't hold his liquor. Like most young people, even outsiders, he'd rather be one of the boys than a stick in the mud. Iago, of course, takes advantage of this attitude to shatter the youth's career and wrest the lieutenancy from him (after he has got drunk on duty). This part of the script represents a broken streak in fiction, since it portrays an intoxicated character as a young person from the upper echelons of society. Which I love just for the sake of this subversion! Regrets ensue, but also resilience after getting over disappointment and hope that his situation might change. In the end, he is forgiven, and he will become governor of the outpost, though without any military duties due to his disability: a sign that he has come of age after all the trials and a symbol of the loss of loved ones: he is no longer the innocent and self-reliant young lieutenant we saw get a rank with so little effort at the start of it all.

And we shall not forget, for better or worse, that there is Iago. Who is Iago? Things for sure: he hateloves Cassio and he is not comfortable in the company of ladies. He has his own insecurities and reasons to do what he does (what he perceives as injustice), but his mask is never broken. Some say he is a devil undercover, like Mephisto, which would be true to a certain extent... Iago is to Cassio as the Wicked Queen is to Snow White. In both stories, the innocent victim-hero is reborn after apparent death, while the antagonist is punished. We have already mentioned women's immunity to Iago's tricks. Add his mastery of disappointment as a catalyst for his victims' actions. And the way he "grants wishes": granting the wishes of the male cast when he is near (in Dokidoki Precure, most of the victims of the week, whose hearts are corrupted, are significantly male as well, the corrupter also being male, and pitted against an all-female heroine team which purifies the victims and seals the immortal corrupter away!), the wishes backfiring and shattering the lives of those who made them. Does Iago grant wishes to have his own wishes granted? Of course.
Some say he is a devil undercover, like Mephisto, which would be true to a certain extent... while I see Iago as a more or less chaotic neutral, leaning on chaotic evil character, a personification of unreason not unlike the Norse Loki, the Spanish Don Carnal, or the Lord of Misrule. Or the Devil on Tarot (arcane XV), which represents the pulsions of the id, passions, unreason beyond good and evil. The keywords are all there: "Chaos is come again". Not evil in a demonic sense, yet a tempter and a trickster who temporarily disrupts and revolutionizes the social order, before and during his own reign as de facto governor, by granting wishes at a great price... but for which reason? There is the lieutenancy mentioned... but is this actually for no reason, Iago's character being unreason (the unreason of wish-making, of intoxication, of insecurity, of paranoia, of passion...) incarnate itself? Mind that his name means "usurper", which, in a story where identity, and the loss of it, are the central themes, is the key word to it all...
Careful the wish you make,
wishes are children.
Careful the path they take,
wishes come true,
not free.
Careful the spell you cast,
not just on children.
Sometimes the spell may last
past what you can see
and turn against you..


Conflict: As convenient as it can be in a tragedy whose setting is liminal and provincial, there is no struggle for a crown or a throne (though there is talk about usurpers: in love, within the hierarchy, within one's own system...), but, rather, for an in another context irrelevant lieutenancy.
Still, this is a game of power, in which the rules are to win or die (no third option or middle ground), some claim it's theirs by right and that the other is a usurper, or vice versa.
There is much talk, not about being governor/commandant, but about being lieutenant to this officer. Not in charge, but next in line, accepting the current ruler's reign.
Left-tenant. Or even "love-tenant", as some Elizabethans pronounced this French loanword. There is a homoerotic innuendo about holding this position as well, for it means a certain proximity to the governor. And Iago is ostensibly preferring the company of other men. Does he want the post for other reasons than social climbing?

I leave it to you.

No matter for which reasons Iago wants the post, he sees Cassio as a usurper. Apparently, since the former is a seasoned veteran and the latter is a learned greenhorn, Iago has as much of a founded claim as Stannis against Renly. Add the fact that, in both scenarios, the former has wound up in the shade of the latter... and wishes to step out of that shade, even if death were the only means.
We all know Stannis had a magical priestess by her side... well, Iago believes in no gods (warfare experience has surely killed his faith) but rather in himself, and this self-reliance coupled with a knack for hitting soft spots is worth more than all the clergy of the Lord of Light.
Cue the scene when he gets Cassio intoxicated, successfully tempting his rival and making him fall, then trying to restrain the furious lieutenant, then, as he sobers up and comes to, telling the ostensible truth to their commanding officer...
An emotional shock that he is unable to cope with, and even more in that state. Now he is much more than confused. What had he done to stain his blade, frighten his dear Desdemona, anger his lord, and lose his rank? Add the ensuing shock to his internal state of recovery... and we've got the fact that he is completely ruined within. Aside from socially dead. How should he return to be the one he once was?
This predicament, this identity crisis, is the catalyst for the whole storm of passion to come.
We Swedes have a nice proverb: "One person's bread is another's death", and thus we see Cassio a devastated ensign and Iago a proud lieutenant. The tables have turned 180 degrees.
And this reversal gives the scheme a nice foundation. Not only has Iago earned more trust of his general, he also has discredited his rival completely.
...then cheering up the broken young officer and giving him the suggestion that he ask Desdemona to defend his cause.
There you have it. But Iago doesn't stop at that, rather, he keeps on tricking Othello to have the governor at his every beck and call. The one who called himself "rightful" is now actually a usurper, not only claiming the lieutenancy, but also a relevant influence over his commanding officer and, thus, the de facto rulership of the whole outpost.

That is, until he is defeated by his maidservant wife and the fiancée of his rival, both of which expose his whole gambit to the light. Earlier on, at the start of the final act with all its deaths, Iago couldn't put himself together to kill Cassio. He had earlier on expressed how he hates being second to the young officer. Yet there seems to be this underlying truth that... what should Iago do when he had already done what he was trying to reach?
As a result, he even sends a surgeon to tend to the wounded Cassio, who survives except for a leg cut off (metaphor for castration?) which puts an end to his military career (and puts him back in place as an intellectual, if you refuse to accept that he will become a disabled and prosthetic-limbed badass à la Jaime Lannister). Add the fact that Iago gives an account (a true one?) of himself standing guard by the sleeping then-lieutenant, sitting on the young man's bed, as he laid a leg on Iago's lap and gave the traitor a kiss. Yes, Cassio laid that same leg over Iago's crotch and then kissed Iago. Though the young officer was dreaming about banging a woman (Desdemona, Emilia, or Bianca?) and acting out his dream.
And this same person even succeeds Othello as his heir and successor as governor, while Iago is tortured with excruciating pain (yet still managing to stoically, or masochistically, shut up). So, while Cassio does his comeback on the rulership arena... Iago, in spite of his punishment, has at least partially succeeded by killing the former governor, his lady wife, and even his own (Iago's) stupid lovesick crony and maid wife (to make her shut up 'cause she knew too much, yet he managed to off her when it was too late and she had already told the whole truth).
Only Cassio and Bianca survive, and we are left to imagine their marriage since it does not appear in the play... it ends with Othello and Desdemona, and even Emilia the all-knowing maid, dead. And Iago arrested, swearing that he will not breathe a single word about his agenda, of which everyone else (audience included) but the late Emilia was completely unaware. Which purpose did the traitor have, and for which reason? This question is left unanswered. Here, I have given my own humble opinion, which may have been Iago's real motivation or may have not.
All that jazz not for a throne, but rather (ironically and subversively) for a lieutenancy. Which makes sense in context.

After all, this is an unusual play, in which women act and speak their minds, in which military men are insecure and desperate figures losing power at lightning speed, in which chaos is a ladder to a strange fellow who walks about at daylight and moonlight granting wishes at the price of disappointment and regret... The keywords are all there: "Chaos is come again".
Nothing unusual from our own point of view, compared to that of the original Stuart-era audience. Othello is as subversive and as attractive as Game of Thrones for exactly the same reasons. And we hope that our friends in Westeros survive, most of them, their ordeal.
Though the Cypriot fort of Othello is closer to our present-day universe than Westeros is. It's also a secluded space, a community crowded within narrow walls (to quote Lew Wallace), far more claustrophobic and easier to map (and thus, to follow the characters within this reduced space) than the thousands of kilometres from Dorne to Winterfell and beyond the Wall. In fact, the setting of Othello is closer to the concept of Noble Academy or Hogwarts. A military encampment with claustrophobic confines, where emotions and power play, with a far more economic cast and space-time frame than in Westeros, are equally intense, and seem even more because they are here concentrated rather than scattered. And a lieutenant's commission can be as wanted and as fought for as the Iron Throne, though at a lower scale.

WHY DO WE RAISE OUR VOICE WHEN WE'RE ANGRY?

WHY DO WE RAISE OUR VOICE WHEN WE'RE ANGRY?

Surely, this must have had an intimidating effect on predators back in the Stone Age, and on human enemies upon every battlefield in history.
But nowadays, this reaction can prove a relevant disturbance. We're no longer fending off a sabertooth in a cave, or Leaguers at Breitenfeld, or anything like that, but we still get incensed after all. And we raise our voices, perchance convinced that this will scare the other away and bring him/her over to our side.
Yet we can't control this volume shift. For it is actually literally beyond reason. To be more precise, tension is part of the somatic-affective modality of anger. Somatic means physical/bodily. This makes it an instinctive response, one that can't be regulated by the cortex because its origin can be traced back to our reptilian ancestors.

 The rapid, minimal, and evaluative processing of the emotional significance of the sensory data is done when the data passes through the amygdala in its travel from the sensory organs along certain neural pathways towards the limbic forebrain.

Noradrenaline, or norepinephrine, is the hormone that triggers the fight response. And we can trace it to the postganglionic neurons of the sympathetic nervous system:

There are two kinds of neurons involved in the transmission of any signal through the sympathetic system: pre-ganglionic and post-ganglionic^]

At the synapses within the ganglia, preganglionic neurons release acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on postganglionic neurons. In response to this stimulus postganglionic neurons—with two important exceptions—release norepinephrine, which activates adrenergic receptors on the peripheral target tissues. The activation of target tissue receptors causes the effects associated with the sympathetic system.

 α1-receptors (adrenergic) primarily mediate smooth muscle contraction, but have important functions elsewhere as well. The hormone noradrenaline has higher affinity for the α1 receptor than does adrenaline.

Increased muscle tension in order to provide the body with extra speed and strength.

• Muscles Tense

In order to give us extra speed and strength the muscles of our body tense.

One may see this as a reflex, an unconscious reaction with the purpose of intimidating and/or subjugating our opponents.

The fight response, these alpha-1 receptors... the intercostal muscles between the ribs tense (it's like wearing an invisible corset that restrains how much your chest can expand), and so do those in the throat, around the larynx and trachea, constraining the amount of air that can get through and the position of the vocal cords.

There is greater muscle tension in the larynx, coupled with higher subglottal pressure (Subglottic pressure is pressure of air in the trachea below the glottis when the glottis is closed).

Vocal loudness is the consequence of subglottal pressure. 

This is also the reason why, as you have certainly heard or read, that a person with a deep wound in the chest, upper back, or upper side will always speak softly. The injury causing this is a punctured lung: the lungs can't fill properly because of a wound that has opened a hole into the intercostals and interferes with respiration. Also, there is often a ruptured blood vessel and the airways fill up with blood (coughed up, seen on lips), which also will affect speech.

It has been stated that respiration is an indicator in certain emotional situations, including conflict.  An increase in respiration rate would result in an increased subglottal pressure during speech. Anger is manifested in a higher subglottal pressure and a narrower glottal pulse.

Anger and hatred are characterised by heightened activity of the expiratory muscles (inner intercostal muscles) and of the intrinsic adductor muscles of the glottis. The considerable effort of the expiratory muscles causes high subglottal pressure.

Lateral cricoarytenoid muscles adduct and internally rotate the arytenoid cartilages, increase medial compression.

These can, ironically, save lives by temporarily shutting the glottis (for seconds) before expelling a foreign object. In this context, however, a high subglottal pressure is life-saving.

These muscles receive their innervation from the Recurrent laryngeal nerve which is a branch of the Vagus nerve (CN X).

Subglottal pressure is the pressure of the airflow in the trachea below the glottis. This is the main factor used by speakers to control phonation when producing speech. Subglottal pressure affects the amplitude of speech signals and fundamental frequency. Higher subglottal pressure causes higher airflow velocity, thus, it has an impact on glottal flow. It can therefore be considered as one of the feature parameters for classifying stressed speech.

The subglottal cavity consists of the trachea and the lungs. 

Pistons are initiators. The term initiator refers to the fact that they are used to initiate a change in the volumes of air cavities, and, by Boyle's Law, the corresponding air pressure of the cavity. The term initiation refers to the change. Since changes in air pressures between connected cavities lead to airflow between the cavities, initiation is also referred to as an airstream mechanism. Some of the pistons present in the articulatory system are the larynx, and the physiological structures used to manipulate lung volume (in particular, the floor and the walls of the chest). The lung pistons are used to initiate a pulmonic airstream (found in all human languages). The larynx is used to initiate the glottalic airstream mechanism by changing the volume of the supraglottal and subglottal cavities via vertical movement of the larynx (with a closed glottis).

The air pressure from the lungs (subglottal pressure) pushes the vocal folds open and the air begins to flow through the glottis. The velocity of the flow is highest in the narrowest parts, with the consequence that air pressure decreases between the vocal folds and sucks them together again.

Raising your voice" in this sense involves more subglottal pressure, more vocal effort, higher amplitude, and also higher pitch.

subglottal pressure coming from the lungs. 

(e.g., the standard value of subglottal pressure for phonation is 2-8 cmH2O, but 10-12 cmH2O for loud speech)

Such linguistic and pragmatic changes to F0 are mediated by coordinated adjustments to vocal fold tension, vertical larynx position and subglottal pressure. The effects of emotion on F0 variation are difficult to predict. Emotional changes to muscle tone are likely to be tonic, and thus affect F0 level as described above, rather than F0 variation. It is possible that the major physiological mediator of emotional changes to F0 range and F0 variance is expiratory force. An example is the case of angry utterances, in which powerful expiration will lead to an eventual drop in subglottal pressure (due to exhaustion of the air supply in the lungs), causing a corresponding drop in F0. 

Under difficult obstructive conditions, the vocal folds remain closed for a greater proportion of the glottal cycle, at the “expense” of the period during which the folds are open. This pattern of results corresponds to the description of the effects of increased laryngeal muscle tension given by Sundberg (1994) according to which the vocal folds are held in a closed position with greater force. A higher subglottal pressure is therefore required to build up so as to force open the vocal folds. When the vocal folds do eventually open, the rush of air through the glottis causes a sudden drop in pressure due to the Bernoulli effect. The vocal folds are thus rapidly drawn back together again,

both under the influence of elastic forces of the increased muscle tension, and the pressure drop between them. The result, termed “tense voice”, is a more skewed glottal pulse, with longer closed phase and shorter open phase. 

Any change in the air pressure directly below the larynx (e.g. due to a change in respiratory function), or the tension and position of the vocal folds, will affect how the vocal folds open and close, thus producing variations in the intensity, f0 and the harmonic energy distribution of the sound. For example, when the vocal folds are under heightened tension and subglottal pressure is high due to heavy expiratory effort, the vocal folds will close more suddenly, leading to an increase not only in overall intensity, but also in f0 and the energy in the higher harmonics (Iwarsson, Thomasson and Sundberg, 1998; Hixon, 1987; Ladefoged, 1968). Such a vocal configuration might be expected for certain high arousal emotions, such as anger.

At the segmental level, quickened respiration leads to increases in subglottal air pressure which, in turn, puts more strain on the vocal cords. This impacts how the cords vibrate. In response, muscular tension on the cords tends to spontaneously increase and this raises F0. 

This implies that angry and loud conditions are manifested in a higher subglottal pressure and a narrower glottal pulse. 

Intensity is described in terms of strength of subglottal pressure; its acoustic correlate is loudness.

Emotions change physiological parameters such as heart rate, blood flow, and muscle tension, which in turn alter vocal production. Emotional arousal, for example, increases laryngeal tension and subglottal pressure, resulting in increased intensity. 

◦Increased subglottal pressure/airflow = increased loudness

Respiration is frequently a sensitive indicator in certain emotional situations. When an individual experiences a stressful situation, his/her respiration rate increases. This presumably will increase subglottal pressure during speech, which 

is known to increase fundamental frequency (or pitch) during voiced section.

For instance, anger yields increased tension in the laryngeal musculature coupled with increased subglottal air pressure. This changes the production of sound at the glottis and hence changes the timbre of the voice (Johnstone & Scherer, 2000).

Long story short:

The reason why is due to the tension in respiratory muscles, which make respiration more shallow (the system takes up a higher gear and requires more oxygen, hence the reason why), and thus force air out of the lungs and raise the pressure below the larynx. This physiological activity is called high subglottal/subglottic pressure, and it is the reason why angry people raise their voices.

Well, whenever I feel from disappointed to furious, I feel like a lump in my throat or a noose around it. It will disappear whenever I release my feelings out loud (never better said), but remain there if I do not voice these feelings. I did not know what this "lump" or "noose" was until now, when I have finally discovered what it is.

Interestingly, neurotoxins like strychnine also affect the respiratory muscles in a similar way, the internal intercostals tightening the ribcage as the lateral cricoarytenoids shut the glottis. But these tensions are not reversible. The poisoned person is suffocated, "strangled from within".

In other words, thus died Joffrey "Baratheon".

Our own case of rage is, on the other hand, temporary, and it wears off pretty quickly (as soon as we are not aroused). However, it leaves persistent effects on others.

THE SNOW QUEEN MUSICAL: PRINCESS

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS FROM MUSICAL
(Sounds like me, the Princess description)

Princess

An untraditional princess. Geeky and adventurous, she’s always eager to know and learn more. No matter what time of day or night, she seems to be on way too much caffeine. Explosive energy, she is hopelessly in love with The Prince. Mezzo

Vocal Range: B3 – E♭5

A Prince

See Princess. They are a perfect match.

Vocal Range: Non-Singing Role

SYNOPSIS EXCERPTS

a boy just married the Princess. 
the bedroom of the Prince and Princess. 
the always up-beat and highly caffeinated royal couple.

The sassy anti-princess anthem "Never Give Up" is a hoot.

In the musical, the Prince, played by Rhett George, is afro (and looks like Othello!)

The Princess is a redhead, played by Asian Cindy Im.

It pleases me to see them portrayed by non-Caucasians for a change.

IAN MORRIS: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information processing is critical to social development.

Moore's Law: the cost-effectiveness of information technology has doubled every 18 months or so since 1950.
But that, of course, would overlook both the flexibility of old-fashioned forms of information storage such as printed books and changes over time in access to the most advanced techniques.

The correct ratio between modern and earlier information technology is much less than a billion to one, though it is clearly enormous, with the consequence that pre-1900 scores (and margins of error) are even tinier than in the case of war-making.

Thanks to new technologies, information technology surged eightyfold, while energy capture per person merely doubled.

Most mind-boggling of all are the changes in information technology. The 20th century took us from crude radios and telephones to the Internet; it is not so far-fetched to suggest that the 21st (century) will give everyone in the developed cores instant access to and total recall of all the information in the world, their brains networked like --or into-- a giant computer, with calculating power trillions of times greater than the sum of all brains and machines in our own time.

All these things, of course, sound impossible. Merging our minds with machines -- well, we would cease to be human.

Hard as it is to get our minds around the idea, the trends of the last couple of centuries are leading towards a change in what it means to be human, making possible the science-fiction kinds of information technology implied by social development scores of five thousand points.