Hypnotically induced pseudomemories--sampling their conditions among hypnotizable subjects

Three studies are reported in a program of research that investigated a range of parameters affecting individual differences in the incidence of hypnotically induced pseudomemory among hypnotizable subjects. Study 1 replicated Laurence and Perry's (1983b) base rates for hypnotically induced pseudomemory response among hypnotizable subjects; in Study 2 the same response was analyzed under more strictly controlled stimulus conditions. Study 3 was an investigation of the impact of a broader range of stimulus events on response and a more sensitive test of the hypothesis that individual differences in pseudomemory effects are tied essentially to the social context of hypnosis. In all three studies, independent groups of subjects were tested who were highly responsive to hypnotic suggestion. Data indicated that the incidence of pseudomemory response was stable and consistent when stringent criteria of scoring were adopted. Also, for some subjects, real and suggested memories were maintained at one and the same time when hypnotically induced memory was examined in different test settings, suggesting that pseudomemories do not permanently overlay real experience. Overall, contextual factors appeared to play a major role among susceptible subjects in determining the nature and incidence of hypnotically induced pseudomemories.     

Amer-Ind versus ASL: recognition and imitation in aphasic subjects

The imitation and recognition ability of brain-damaged and normal subjects was tested for 30 pairs of semantically matched ASL signs and corresponding Amer-Ind gestures. Subjects were rated according to severity and site of lesion. They were 6 nonaphasic, right-hemisphere brain-damaged subjects, 12 aphasic subjects, and 12 non-brain-damaged geriatric subjects. Results indicated that the Amer-Ind gestures were significantly easier to imitate and to recognize than the matched ALS signs. The relationships between these gestural abilities and severity of aphasia, site of lesion, Amer-Ind transparency ratings, and subjects' performance on a standardized aphasia test are outlined. The theoretical implications that concern the neural systems which mediate spoken and limb gestures are discussed.     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group TreatmentPart I: Reality and Reality Testing

This two-part contribution addresses reality, reality testing, and testing reality—how we think about and may technically approach these concepts. Part I provides a topic overview and focuses on reality testing. Part II (in an upcoming issue) focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Reality testing and testing reality represent two fundamental, reciprocal manifestations of the drive to know and of tasks of learning: approaching problems and solving them. While testing reality involves approaching reality without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity, reality testing centers on a particular theme or object. It evolves towards organization and rationality, with a goal to define and solve problems—or to avoid them.

Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two types of approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are appropriate.     

Acquisition of new "words" in normal subjects: a suggestion for the treatment of anomia

The study explores the efficacy of three learning methods in normal controls. Thirty subjects, randomly assigned to the repetition, reading aloud, or orthographic cueing method, were asked to learn 30 new "words" (legal nonwords arbitrarily assigned to 30 different pictures); 30 further new "words" were used as controls. Number of trials to criterion was significantly lower, and number of words remembered at follow-up was significantly higher for the orthographic cueing method. Two aphasic patients with damage to the output lexicons were also rehabilitated with the same three methods. In both patients the orthographic cueing method was significantly more efficacious. The differences in learning efficacy of the three methods are discussed.     

Thirteen days: Joseph Delboeuf versus Pierre Janet on the nature of hypnotic suggestion

The problem of post‐hypnotic suggestion was introduced in 1884. Give a hypnotic subject the post‐hypnotic command to return in 13 days. Awake, the subject remembers nothing yet nonetheless fulfills the command to return. How then does the subject count 13 days without knowing it? In 1886, Pierre Janet proposed the concept of dissociation as a solution, arguing that a second consciousness kept track of time outside of the subject's main consciousness. Joseph Delboeuf, in 1885, and Hippolyte Bernheim, in 1886, proposed an alternative solution, arguing that subjects occasionally drifted into a hypnotic state in which they were reminded of the suggestion. This article traces the development of these competing solutions and describes some of Delboeuf's final reflections on the problem of simulation and the nature of hypnosis. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Egocentric versus Allocentric Spatial Ability in Dentistry and Haptic Virtual Reality Training

The current study investigates the role of egocentric and allocentric spatial abilities in the field of dentistry. Whereas allocentric ability requires spatial transformation from a stationary point of reference, egocentric spatial ability is tied to the sensory‐motor system, and it requires changing one's imagined perspective in space. Experiment 1 investigates the role of different spatial abilities in a tooth preparation exercise. Experiment 2 investigates the interaction of allocentric and egocentric spatial abilities with the effectiveness of haptic virtual reality training. The results show that only egocentric spatial ability was a significant predictor of success in tooth preparation. In addition, an egocentric spatial ability test was the reliable predictor of success in more complex (indirect vision) tasks during haptic virtual reality training. Our results indicate the need for the development of finer measures of the specific spatial skills that might be needed for different dental specializations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Verbal versus manual reaction time in schizophrenic and normal subjects

On the assumption that schizophrenia involves a disturbance in interpersonal relations it is predicted that the verbal reaction time responses of schizophrenic subjects should have disproportionately longer latencies than manual reaction time responses as compared to normal subjects. Using data presented in this Journal by Venables and O'Connor (1959). the prediction is confirmed for patients whose reaction time level is relatively fast, but not in those with relatively slow reaction times. Several possible mechanisms are postulated to account for the results, including differential reinforcement, amount of practice, and complexity of verbal responses, and degree of pathology of the patients.     

Direct and indirect measures of contextual information: Older versus young adult subjects

Abstract

Several reports in the literature suggest that older adults have impaired memory for contextual information. Support for this approach was derived from studies that tested different aspects of contextual information by direct measures of memory (i.e., recall or recognition). the purpose of the present study is twofold: first, to test the possibility that contextual information, although inaccessible via direct measures, may be evident via indirect measures of memory; and second, to evaluate the contribution of duration of exposure to direct and indirect memory measures of contextual information. Two groups of subjects participated in the present study, 35 younger and 30 older subjects. Duration of exposure was not found to have a differential effect on the groups, in either direct or indirect memory tasks. As predicted, age-related differences emerged when direct, but not indirect, measures of contextual memory were tested. These findings argue against the context-memory deficit hypothesis in elderly sbjects, and are interpreted in terms of the theoretical distinction between implicit and explicit memory, where the former is found to be preserved in older adult subjects.     

Active versus passive proprioceptive straight-ahead pointing in normal subjects

Eighty blindfolded healthy female subjects participated in an active and a passive straight-ahead pointing task to study the estimation of the subjective sagittal middle in the presence or absence of an active haptic exploration. Subjects were to point straight-ahead with their left or right index finger starting from different right- or left-sided locations, while performing either an active movement or with the hand being passively moved by the examiner. Results showed: (i) a significant effect of the hand used only on the active straight-ahead pointing task performance; (ii) a significant effect of the starting position both on the active and passive pointing performance; (iii) a significant correlation between the two protocols only in terms of spatial bias (algebraic error) but not in terms of precision (absolute errors). These results are discussed with regards to normal and neuropsychological studies of the egocentric frame of reference.     

Head turning versus manual pointing to auditory targets in normal subjects and in subjects with right parietal damage.

Head turning and manual pointing to auditory targets have been studied in normal subjects and in subjects with right parietal damage. Important differences were found between these two types of movement. (1) In brain-damaged subjects, audiospatial manual pointing deficit patterns and audiospatial head turning deficit patterns were dissociated. Moreover, head turning deficits tended to appear peripherally in both auditory hemifields, while manual pointing deficits tended to appear unilaterally in the left hemifield. (2) In normal subjects, at all tested eccentricities in both hemifields, head turning performances showed a characteristic undershooting of auditory targets when compared to manual pointing. Results are discussed in terms of differences between the processes underlying audio-motor tasks that involve the head and tasks that involve the hands.     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group Treatment

This two-part contribution addresses concepts of “reality,” “reality testing,” and “testing reality,” as they apply to group treatment. Part I provided topic overview and focused on reality testing. Part II focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Whereas reality testing centers on a particular theme or object, with a goal to define and solve problems, testing reality involves approaching targets of interest without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity. It is wide open, spontaneous, and unbounded, and may take the individual and group into realms that are uncomfortable and even unwanted. Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are called for.     

Cognitive modification versus prolonged exposure in vivo: a comparison with agoraphobics as subjects.

Cognitive restructuring and prolonged exposure in vivo were compared in a cross-over design with 21 agoraphobics.Assessments were made at the beginning of treatment, at cross-over, at the end of treatment and at the follow-up one month later. Assessment were carried out by an independent observer (phobic anxiety and avoidance scales and anxious mood) and by the client (measurement in vivo, phobic anxiety and avoidance scales. FSS, ASES, SDS and 1-E scale). Prolonged exposure in vivo proved to be a definitely superior form of treatment to cognitive restructuring, as measured by the behavioral in vivo measurement and the phobic anxiety and avoidance scales.     

Pastoral Care: Myth and Reality

The increase in pastoral-care systems in secondary schools over the last fifteen years is examined. It is suggested that pastoral care is more effective in allaying the anxieties of teachers and their organisations than it is in meeting the social and personal needs of pupils. It is also suggested that pastoral-care systems assume responsibilities which are more properly those of the family, and that the best way schools can offset the effects of poor home environments is via good subject teaching and increased pupil involvement in schools.     

民富:理想与现实的追索

贫穷是历史现象和世界现象,是造成古今中外所有经济、政治、社会、文化种种矛盾的症结.从经济史到经济思想史,民富理论及其实践是很多思想家、政治家和经济学者关注的一个热点.战胜贫穷,致民富裕,也是当前中国的重要战略,其目标在共同富裕,现在还不是现实,而是我们应该追求的理想.     

Self-induced versus reactive triggering of synchronous movements in a deafferented patient and control subjects

The present study investigates the contribution of tactile-kinesthetic information to the timing of movements. The relative timing of simultaneous tapping movements of finger and foot (hand-foot asynchrony) was examined in a simple reaction time task and in discrete self-initiated taps (Experiment 1), and in externally triggered synchronization tapping (Experiment 2). We compared the performance of a deafferented participant (IW) to the performance of two control groups of different ages. The pattern of results in control groups replicates previous findings: Whereas positive hand-foot asynchronies (hand precedes foot) are observed in a simultaneous reaction to an auditory stimulus, hand-foot asynchronies are negative with discrete self-initiated as well as auditorily paced sequences of synchronized finger and foot taps. In the first case, results are explained by a simultaneous triggering of motor commands. In contrast, self-initiated and auditorily paced movements are assumed to be controlled in terms of their afferent consequences, as provided by tactile-kinesthetic information. The performance of the deafferented participant differed from that of healthy participants in some aspects. As expected on the basis of unaffected motor functions, the participant was able to generate finger and foot movements in reaction to an external signal. In spite of the lack of movement-contingent sensory feedback, the deafferented participant showed comparable timing errors in self-initiated and regularly paced tapping as observed in control participants. However, in discrete self-initiated taps IW's hand-foot asynchronies were considerably larger than in control participants, while performance did not differ from that of controls in continuous movement generation. These findings are discussed in terms of an internal generation of the movement's sensory consequences (forward-modeling).