Mind the gap: bridging economic and naturalistic risk-taking with cognitive neuroscience

Economists define risk in terms of the variability of possible outcomes, whereas clinicians and laypeople generally view risk as exposure to possible loss or harm. Neuroeconomic studies using relatively simple behavioral tasks have identified a network of brain regions that respond to economic risk, but these studies have had limited success predicting naturalistic risk-taking. By contrast, more complex behavioral tasks developed by clinicians (e.g. Balloon Analogue Risk Task and Iowa Gambling Task) correlate with naturalistic risk-taking but resist decomposition into distinct cognitive constructs. We propose here that to bridge this gap and better understand neural substrates of naturalistic risk-taking, new tasks are needed that: are decomposable into basic cognitive and/or economic constructs; predict naturalistic risk-taking; and engender dynamic, affective engagement.     

Community science: bridging the gap between science and practice with community-centered models

A major goal of community science is to improve the quality of life in our communities by improving the quality of the practice of treatment, prevention, health promotion, and education. Community science is an interdisciplinary field, which develops and researches community-centered models that enable communities to use evidence-based interventions more effectively and efficiently. In this article, the gap between science and practice and the need to bridge the gap with new models serve as an entry point and guide to the development of a community science. Therefore, the article describes (1) the prevention science model of bringing science to practice, (2) why this model is necessary but not sufficient for influencing the quality of interventions in our everyday world, (3) the gap between science and practice and the need to integrate prevention science models with community-centered models in order to bridge the gap, and (4) features of community science.     

Martin Mayman's early memories technique: bridging the gap between personality assessment and psychotherapy

In this article, we describe Martin Mayman's approach to early childhood memories as a projective technique, beginning with his scientific interest in learning theory, coupled with his interest in ego psychology and object relations theory. We describe Mayman's contributions to the use of the early memories technique to inform the psychotherapy process, tying assessment closely to psychotherapy and making assessment more useful in treatment. In this article, we describe a representative sample of research studies that demonstrate the reliability and validity of early memories, followed by case examples in which the early memories informed the therapy process, including issues of transference and countertransference.     

Finding the attractor of anger: bridging the gap between dynamic concepts and empirical data

Although it accounts for the prototypical course of emotions, the attractor concept has hardly ever been used empirically. Authors applied Empirical Differential Equations (EDE) to frequent (hourly) anger ratings to find the attractor of anger. The attractor concept, its neurological basis, and EDE are explained. The attractor of anger follows an underdamped oscillator, and is affected by the capacity to inhibit prepotent responses. Anger accelerates less fast when inhibitory control increases. Results stress the internal dynamics of emotions, and help to bridge the gap between concepts from dynamic systems theory and empirical data.     

Mind the gap: Increasing associations between the self and Blacks with approach behaviors

Although perceived differences between outgroup social categories and the self are often cited as a major contributor to prejudice and intergroup tension, surprisingly few studies have examined ways to improve associations between the self and racial outgroups. The present research investigated one strategy to increase these associations-approach training. Specifically, 3 studies investigated the impact of training participants to conceptually approach Blacks on 3 separate measures: 2 response latency measures indexing the strength of association between the self and Blacks and a psychophysiological measure indexing brain activity in response to Blacks in the context of the self. A fourth study examined the link between earlier research on the impact of approach training on implicit prejudice against Blacks and the current results related to self-Black associations. Together, these findings provided consistent evidence that training in approaching Blacks increases associations between the self and Blacks that in turn reduce implicit prejudice against Blacks.     

From personal sexuality bias to the life orientation classroom: bridging the gap with cultural intelligence

The emotive nature of teaching sexuality and culture is widely acknowledged. However, a working model to promote the teaching of sexuality with sensitivity to both learner needs and community social norms is required. This paper proposes to position cultural intelligence as a means to promote the active, as opposed to reactive, nature of teaching sexuality within a multicultural environment. Specifically, cultural intelligence's components of knowledge, mindfulness and behaviour seem particularly pertinent to a pedagogy which aligns with the active change of modern sexualities.     

Depression and medication adherence among breast cancer survivors: bridging the gap with the theory of planned behaviour

Evidence suggests that more depressed breast cancer patients will less likely adhere to treatment plans. This study presents evidence that the theory of planned behaviour mediates the relation between depression and intentions to adhere to treatment plans and between depression and lack of adherence to medication regime. Two hundred and thirteen women undergoing breast cancer treatment participated in this study. Measures of depressive symptoms and planned behaviour variables were collected at the first time point; measures of medication adherence were collected at the second time point. Structural equation models were utilised to fit the data to the proposed models. Depressive symptoms were significantly correlated to both intentions and medication adherence. In support of hypotheses, the relation between depressive symptoms and treatment intention was mediated by attitudes towards health maintenance plans. The relation between depressive symptoms and medication adherence was fully mediated by the planned behaviour process. Conditions under which treatment intentions and perceptions of control in adhering to treatment were most related to medication adherence were elucidated. The results point to avenues for interventions to increase medication adherence among breast cancer patients. Manipulating attitudes and perceptions of control towards treatment plans will potentially serve to increase medication adherence.     

The contribution of the human medial temporal lobe to perception: bridging the gap between animal and human studies.

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) has been considered traditionally to subserve declarative memory processes only. Recent studies in nonhuman primates suggest, however, that the MTL may also be critical to higher order perceptual processes, with the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex being involved in scene and object perception, respectively. The current article reviews the human neuropsychological literature to determine whether there is any evidence to suggest that these same views may apply to the human MTL. Although the majority of existing studies report intact perception following MTL damage in human amnesics, there have been recent studies that suggest that when scene and object perception are assessed systematically, significant impairments in perception become apparent. These findings have important implications for current mnemonic theories of human MTL function and our understanding of human amnesia as a result of MTL lesions.     

Analogical reasoning and the differential outcome effect: transitory bridging of the conceptual gap for rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Monkeys, unlike chimpanzees and humans, have a marked difficulty acquiring relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) tasks that likely reflect the cognitive foundation upon which analogical reasoning rests. In the present study, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) completed a categorical (identity and nonidentity) RMTS task with differential reward (pellet ratio) and/or punishment (timeout ratio) outcomes for correct and incorrect choices. Monkeys in either differential reward-only or punishment-only conditions performed at chance levels. However, the RMTS performance of monkeys experiencing both differential reward and punishment conditions was significantly better than chance. Subsequently when all animals experienced nondifferential outcomes tests, their RMTS performance levels were at chance. These results indicate that combining differential reward and punishment contingencies provide an effective, albeit transitory, scaffolding for monkeys to judge analogical relations-between-relations.     

Religious self and secular self: Clinical transitions

Clerical people, returning to secular life, may undergo shifts in self-experience, including alterations in internal object relations. Self-psychology, positing the importance to health of cohesion of all aspects of self, provides a theoretical model for exploring such shifts and their facilitation through psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A case of a released Roman Catholic priest is discussed to illustrate dynamic processes. Emphasis is on a clinical approach that does not require conversion of religious and spiritual self-experience into drive derivative formulations     

Enacting the self: Buddhist and Enactivist approaches to the emergence of the self

In this paper, I take up the problem of the self through bringing together the insights, while correcting some of the shortcomings, of Indo–Tibetan Buddhist and enactivist accounts of the self. I begin with an examination of the Buddhist theory of non-self (anātman) and the rigorously reductionist interpretation of this doctrine developed by the Abhidharma school of Buddhism. After discussing some of the fundamental problems for Buddhist reductionism, I turn to the enactive approach to philosophy of mind and cognitive science. I argue that human beings, as dynamic systems, are characterized by a high degree of self-organizing autonomy. Therefore, human beings are not reducible to the more basic mental and physical events that constitute them. I critically examine Francisco Varela’s enactivist account of the self as virtual and his use of Buddhist ideas in support of this view. I argue, in contrast, that while the self is emergent and constructed, it is not merely virtual. Finally I sketch a Buddhist-enactivist account of the self. I argue for a non-reductionist view of the self as an active, embodied, embedded, self-organizing process—what the Buddhists call ‘I’-making (ahaṃkāra). This emergent process of self-making is grounded in the fundamentally recursive processes that characterize lived experience: autopoiesis at the biological level, temporalization and self-reference at the level of conscious experience, and conceptual and narrative construction at the level of intersubjectivity. In Buddhist terms, I will develop an account of the self as dependently originated and empty, but nevertheless real.     

The role of spirituality in building up the resilience of migrant children in Central America: bridging the gap between needs and responses*

Abstract

Academic research across different disciplines has evidenced that spirituality contributes significantly to the building up of resilience. Little research, however, exists on the relationship between spirituality and resilience among displaced children. Enquiring into this particular area is urgent not only because of the increasing numbers of displaced children in the world today but also because of the insufficiency of current responses, which fail to address children’s deep questions about life, themselves, the world and God. This paper argues that spirituality has the potential to answer these deep existential needs, and, by doing so, can constitute a key resilience factor for migrant children. Furthermore, it argues for the value of using interdisciplinary approaches to explore these issues. Through a qualitative investigation involving adult professionals working with migrant children and adult faith leaders and/or experts in spirituality, this paper provides new insights into how to understand the relationship between spirituality and resilience among displaced populations, and how to nurture migrant children’s spirituality in multi-faith and non-faith settings.     

Representations of dread: the dreaded self and the dreaded state of the self

The experience of dread, an extreme form of fear that is induced by terror and horror, is seen as manifested in the shapes of a "dreaded self" and a "dreaded state of the self." These representations reflect psychic dangers ranging from a common, feared identification to states of disconnection, desolation, ego dissolution, and nonexistence. It is suggested that life crises and traumatic impingements, informed by developmental and psychic realities, are critical determinants of multiple dreaded self-representations; that disavowal often serves to massively ward off the recognition of the awful; and that these representations serve a preconscious signal function that anticipates the danger of reexperiencing an original terror. Case examples illustrate these points and reflect the utility of the language of dreaded representations in the treatment situation.     

动机性视角与认知加工视角下三重自我的层级关系

自我并非是一个单一的、整体的认知结构,至少包含3个基本的自我表征形式:个体自我、关系自我与集体自我。从动机性视角出发,3种自我的层级关系存在4种可能的假设:(1)个体自我首要性假设;(2)关系自我首要性假设;(3)集体自我首要性假设;(4)情境性假设。以往动机性视角出发的研究偏向于支持个体自我首要性假设,但其结论仍需通过进一步考察其他可能变量的作用而加以验证。从认知视角考虑三重自我的层级关系时,以往的研究结果并不统一,缺乏同时比较个体自我、关系自我、集体自我的层级关系的整合性研究。今后需要重点探索将三重自我整合起来的新的实验范式,从而有助于对三重自我层级关系的分析与探究。     

Contextualized self: when the self runs into social dilemmas

Research on the construction of self and of others has indicated that the way that individuals construe themselves and others exerts an important influence on their cognition, emotion, and even behavior. The present study extends this line of research to mixed-motive situations in which short-term individual and long-term collective interests are at odds. In addition, this study associates the importance of context interdependence, and specifically its interaction with independent self-construal, with an individual's cooperative behavior. We used a priming task to manipulate the level of self-construal and also manipulated the degree of interdependent context by giving participants a chance to assign rewards either to their group members or to themselves alone. The results showed that when participants received interdependent (as opposed to independent) self-construal priming, they consistently contributed highly, regardless of context manipulation. In contrast, those primed with an independent self-construal contributed less in the investment game, but only when placed in a context where group members were encouraged to think about their individual (versus mutual) fate. In this situation they contributed the least to the group in the game. These findings indicate that independent self-construal in a low interdependence context produces the most competitive behavior. The results also showed that how participants felt about their interaction with other group members mediated the effect of context interdependence on cooperative behavior, and possibly that was especially the case for independent self-construal. The results demonstrate that the self can be contextualized and embedded in the social contexts and symbolic systems within which people live.