Isakower-like experience on the couch: a contribution to the psychoanalytic understanding of regressive ego phenomena

Since Isakower's original contribution of 1938, Isakower phenomena have been viewed as primitive experiences involving maternal breast, womb, and face imagery. This clinical report harks back to the less well-known hypothesis with which Isakower concluded his paper: he suggested that these perceptual experiences are related to childhood oedipal masturbatory fantasies at the time of going to sleep. In this paper four Isakower-like phenomena experienced by a patient on the couch are reported in the dynamic context in which they occurred. It is argued that these phenomena constitute a type of regressive ego experience that defends against oedipal conflict.     

A critical review of congenital phantom limb cases and a developmental theory for the basis of body image

Reports of phantom limbs amongst aplasics (i.e., subjects who congenitally lack one or several limbs) have often been presented as evidence that body image is 'hard-wired' in the brain and that neither sensory input nor proprioceptive feedback are essential to its formation. Although attempts have been made to account for these phantoms by other means, these have been on a case by case basis and no satisfactory alternative framework has been proposed. This paper collates the accounts of aplasic phantoms and presents them as compatible with a four-part hypothesis, in which body image is learnt from experience during both pre- and post-natal development, and in which cross-cortical connections and mirror neurons play prominent roles. This model unites several previously disparate theories to offer a viable solution to several longstanding phantom limb mysteries and serves to highlight avenues worthy of further inquiry.     

Sex distribution of EEG phenomena with particular reference to subcortical dysfunctions]

The most constant or continually recurring sexual difference observed from childhood through to old age and determined from the results of a total of 1500 electroencephalograms was a considerable increase in beta activity occurring in female individuals at an earlier time and at a higher rate. The more frequent observation in male individuals of a "pure" alpha electroencephalogram may be interpreted as suggesting a slight decrease of vigilance in them. The percentage of abnormal electroencephalographic results was highest in females, the proportion being 62.5%:51.5% and the functional disorders occurring chiefly in the form of subcortical dysfunctions (30%:20%). Low voltage was found to be predominant in males. More frequent occurrence in the female sex of weakness of the brainstem and a more sensitively reacting formatio reticularis may be considered a possible explanation; also, attempts are made to bring the results obtained into causal or reciprocal relation to psychic conditions. Beta activity is perhaps a parameter of emotionality.     

Some remarks on adolescence with particular reference to Winnicott and Lacan

Utilizing observations on adolescence--notably those of Winnicott, as well as the work of Lacan and a clinical case--the author advances several propositions concerning the unique relationship between adolescents and time. The consequences of this relationship are then framed as a paternal metaphor.     

Some aspects of the interpersonal phenomenology of heterosexual dyads with respect to sex-role stereotypes

A technique based upon recently developed Boolean calculi for interpersonal phenomenology was used to study sex-role attributions within 59 heterosexual dyads. The interpersonal and intrapersonal variables studied include perceived similarity, validation of self-concept, expectations of agreement, feelings of being understood, predictions that the partner expects agreement, understanding, accurate perception of understanding/misunderstanding, and accurate perception of expectations on agreement/disagreement. All variables were studied in relation to each member of the dyad and in relation to male and female sex-role stereotypes. Analyses of all variables are consistent with two conclusions: (1) Phenomenal disparity in a relationship is more likely to be generated around male sex-role stereotypes than around female sex-role stereotypes; (2) phenomenal disparity in a relationship is most likely to occur in connection with counter-sex-role attributions to the female. Increased uncertainty regarding counter-sex-role attributions about women and lowered validation of self-concept for women who adopt counter-sex-role attributes are shown to contribute to these effects. These conclusions are seen as a reflection of an asymmetry which seems to be consistent in the literature: Counter-sex-role choices and attitudes seem to be less discordant for males than for females in this culture. Evidence of this asymmetry is discussed.     

The premodern and the postmodern: Some parallels,with special reference to Hinduism

Insofar as the postmodern exists, it is held to represent a break with the modern, a break no less radical than that of the modern with the premodern. In this paper I point to certain similarities between on the one hand what are said to be key aspects of the postmodern and on the other hand the premodern. It may well be fruitful to look for further parallels on either side of modernity.     

Some aspects of the Pulfrich effect

Krekling, S. Some aspects of the Pulfrich effect. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 87–90.-The course of the Pulfrich effect was studied as a function of binocular differences of intensity. A pendulum and a pointer were matched with respect to apparent distance, with one eye progressively dimmed by neutral density filters. The stereoscopic effect increased as a function of filter density, reached a maximum value and then decreased. At the point of reversal the apparent rotatory movement of the pendulum disappeared, coinciding with an abrupt increase in the variability of the subject's responses, probably indicating the transition to a qualitatively different visual process. The binocular-rivalry explanation of the reversal was not supported by the results.