The Zürich School of Psychiatry in theory and practice. Sabina Spielrein's treatment at the Burghölzli Clinic in Zürich

The remarkably caring and privileged treatment of Sabina Spielrein at the Burgh?lzli Hospital 1904/05 (as shown by the records) exemplifies the standards and key concepts of the Zürich School of Psychiatry, founded by Auguste Forel and represented by the then current director Eugen Bleuler, as well as the specific dynamics between Bleuler, his first assistant C. G. Jung, and Spielrein herself. Bleuler, in accordance with the trauma theory of hysteria, steadfastly promoted the separation from her traumatizing family and supported her scientific education. Jung, deeply and emotionally involved, revealed how she had been traumatized, but in focusing on her masochistic feelings rather than on the victimization, he established a rather conflicted personal relationship with her, foreshadowing his later ambivalent attitude to Freud's sexual theory. Thus Sabina was discharged with a reasonable psychiatric and scientific education but an unreasonable need for personal dependency.     

Is color an integral part of a rich mental simulation?

Research suggests that language comprehenders simulate visual features such as shape during language comprehension. In sentence-picture verification tasks, whenever pictures match the shape or orientation implied by the previous sentence, responses are faster than when the pictures mismatch implied visual aspects. However, mixed results have been demonstrated when the sentence-picture paradigm was applied to color (Connell, Cognition, 102(3), 476–485, 2007; Zwaan & Pecher, PLOS ONE, 7(12), e51382, 2012). One of the aims of the current investigation was to resolve this issue. This was accomplished by conceptually replicating the original study on color, using the same paradigm but a different stimulus set. The second goal of this study was to assess how much perceptual information is included in a mental simulation. We examined this by reducing color saturation, a manipulation that does not sacrifice object identifiability. If reduction of one aspect of color does not alter the match effect, it would suggest that not all perceptual information is relevant for a mental simulation. Our results did not support this: We found a match advantage when objects were shown at normal levels of saturation, but this match advantage disappeared when saturation was reduced, yet still aided in object recognition compared to when color was entirely removed. Taken together, these results clearly show a strong match effect for color, and the perceptual richness of mental simulations during language comprehension.     

Unequal but not separate: Emergence of rich–poor cooperation in resource exchange

Addressing inequality is a critical challenge for society as a whole and requires sustained efforts to promote fairness and opportunity for all. Filling in the resource gap across social classes is essential in reducing inequality. Previous studies have revealed that ingroup favouritism hinders the rich from cooperating with the poor and expands the wealth gap. Nevertheless, how to find ways of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor remains an open question. Inducing rich–poor cooperation could be effective in eliciting resource flow across classes. In this study, two experiments using a modified Prisoner's Dilemma game were conducted in Japan (N = 213) and China (N = 150) to examine whether highlighting partners' cooperativeness under permeable group boundaries induces rich–poor cooperation. All participants were allocated to the rich group and participated in the game with programmed rich- or poor-group partner bots, whose cooperation rates were manipulated. Despite the initial resource disparities between participants and the partner bots, participants were more likely to select and cooperate with cooperative poor-group partners than with non-cooperative rich-group partners. Generalized trust played an important role in the enhancement of rich–poor cooperation. The findings shed light on the possibility of reducing inequality and promoting social mobility in society.     

Implanting rich autobiographical false memories: Meta–analysis for forensic practice and judicial judgment making

ObjectiveThe implanting of rich autobiographical false memories is crucial for judicial decision–making, and the forensic evaluation of a testimony. In order to assess this issue, a meta–analytical review of the probability of implanting rich autobiographical false memories was performed.MethodA total of 30 primary studies analysing the probability of implanting rich autobiographical false memories were retrieved. Random–effects meta–analyses correcting the effect size for sampling error were performed.ResultsThe results revealed a significant, positive, generalizable (the lower limit for the 80% credibility value was d = 1.13), and more than large mean effect size (d = 1.43[1.33, 1.53]) for the implanting of false memory. The moderating effects of stimulus type showed that the effect of the probability of implanted false memory was significantly higher in experienced events (d = 2.03[1.63, 2.43]) than in false narratives (d = 1.35[1.23, 1.47]), and in doctored photographs (d = 1.29[1.06, 1.52]). A similar effect for memory implantation was observed in both the underage (d = 1.44[1.29, 1.59]), and in adults (d = 1.36[1.22, 1.50]). The moderator techniques for implanting false memories revealed a significantly lower probability of implanting false rich memory with non–directive instructions (d = 0.90[0.53, 1.27]) than with guided imagery (d = 1.45[1.32, 1.58]), or with pressure to answer (d = 1.56[1.17, 1.95]) instructions. The event emotional valence moderator exhibited the same effect for positive (d = 1.27[1.09, 1.45]) and negative valence events (d = 1.30[1.17, 1.43]).ConclusionsThe implications of the results for forensic testimony evaluation, police interrogations, and judicial cross–examination are discussed.     

The rich get richer: Students’ discounting of hypothetical delayed rewards and real effortful extra credit

The present research compared choices among students with higher or lower grades for rewards that were devalued by imposing a delay to their receipt (Study 1) or by requiring more work for a larger reward (Study 2). In Study 1, students chose between hypothetical and noncontingent smaller immediate or larger delayed monetary rewards. In Study 2, students chose from among different amounts of real, response-contingent academic rewards (extra credit) that required different amounts of work. The results of both studies were similar: The highest scoring students discounted the value of the delayed money less than did their lower scoring counterparts, and the highest scoring students also chose to do and actually did more extra-credit work than lower scoring students did. Differences in the discounting of devalued rewards might represent a fundamental difference between the highest and lower scoring students.