Cambridge University versus Hebrew University: The impact of letter transposition on reading English and Hebrew

Is reading similarly affected by letter transposition in all alphabetic orthographies? “The Cambridge University effect,” demonstrating that jumbled letters have little effect on reading, was examined using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) in English and in Hebrew. Hebrew-English bilinguals were presented sentences in both languages containing words with transposed letters. Sentences were presented rapidly on the screen word by word, and participants had to reproduce the sequence of words perceived. We found a marked difference in the effect of transpositions in the two languages. In English, transpositions had little effect on performance, whereas in Hebrew, performance deteriorated dramatically for words with transposed letters. The differential effects of transposition are accounted for by the difference in lexical organization in Hebrew and in English, suggesting that models of reading in alphabetic orthographies may be language specific.     

The Oedipus complex: A confrontation at the central cross‐roads of psychoanalysis

The theory of the Oedipus complex as Freud formulated it rests on the following pillars: the child's characteristic sexual and aggressive impulses concerning the parents, phallic monism, and the castration complex. This paper reviews the context in which Freud discovered the Oedipus complex, as well as Freud's theory. It then examines the proposals of later authors whose general Oedipal theories differ from Freud's in an attempt to point out both their possible correlations and confrontations with Freud. It includes Klein's pre‐genital Oedipal theory, Lacan's structuralist reinterpretation, Bion's reconception of the complex under the knowledge vertex, Green's generalized triangulation theory, Meltzer's notions of the aesthetic object and sexual mental states, and Chasseguet‐Smirgel's archaic Oedipal matrix     

Towards a biblical psychoanalysis: a second look at the first book

Freud's materialistic treatment of religion has discouraged and stigmatised inquiries concerning the potential theoretical and clinical utility that biblical stories could offer to the ongoing development of psychoanalysis. As a result, the historical development of psychoanalysis has been disproportionally influenced by the Hellenic ideals that influenced the German humanistic pedagogical value of Bildung, to which Freud was an ardent disciple. However, since it has consistently been recognised that Western culture has been mutually influenced by both biblical and Hellenistic attitudes, it may be warranted to extend this dialectal interplay into the realm of individual psychology, in the process delimiting a space whereby psychoanalysis and biblical thought can constructively coexist. In this vein, prototypical myths from the Greek and biblical traditions can reliably be situated on a psycho-mythological continuum, with Greek myths representing a less integrated level of ego development and biblical narratives reflecting an unambivalent, higher level of psychological organisation. The Greek mythology of Oedipus and the biblical Binding of Isaac has been chosen to illustrate this dynamic.     

On ethical issues at the foundation of the debate over the goals of psychoanalysis

In this paper the author points to ethical issues that underlie the debate over the nature of the goals of psychoanalysis. While it has been suggested that the lack of consensus and clarity in this debate may be partially explained in terms of opposing attitudes to the importance of therapeutic benefit and variance in core values of analysts and patients, the author shows that these explanations do not fully resolve the ambiguity. The examination of the limitations of the existing explanations points to the value of introducing an ethical dimension. She discusses two ethical issues: the complex nature of the ethical value of self-determination in psychoanalysis, and the ethical status of analytic change. The clarification of these two issues contributes to an understanding both of the inherently controversial nature of the debate over analytic goals, and of the place of ethical considerations in psychoanalytic theory and practice.     

Investigation of the process underpinning vowel‐size correspondence

Vowel‐size correspondence is frequently reported in the literature: Namely, the vowels a and i tend to elicit bigger and smaller images, respectively. Previous studies have speculated that two factors may contribute to this vowel‐size correspondence: the acoustical features of vowels and the speaker's kinesthetic experience of producing them. However, these two factors have been investigated without being considered separately in previous research. In this study, we investigated the process underpinning vowel‐size correspondence by using speeded classification tasks and manipulating the two factors mentioned above separately in two experiments. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that a and i elicited bigger and smaller images even in the absence of kinesthetic experience. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that the proprioception of the size of the oral cavity on its own may not contribute to vowel‐size correspondence. Thus, the acoustic features of vowels mainly contribute to vowel‐size correspondence, although other possibilities are also discussed.