Jews in the diaspora with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sepharad</Emphasis> in the mirror: ruptures,relations, and forms of identity: a theme examined through three cases

Recent historiography has led to a reevaluation of the diachronic paradigm that undergirds the classic story of Iberian Jews and conversos. In line with that reevaluation, this article investigates what motivated diasporic Sephardim, especially ones with cultural and other ties to Portugal, to conserve elements of an identity that pointed to their Iberian past, such as the Portuguese and Castilian languages, as well as what one might call “Ibero-conscious” forms of self-identification. What benefits, beyond expressing a nostalgic and otherwise emotive sensibility, could accrue from the retention of these forms? How did they and similar forms facilitate the building internal, group cohesion on the basis of shared connections to a common past? How did the forms articulate the relations of New Christians to the Iberian countries and to the Iberian Empires? To reflect on these and related questions, which focus on the continuity of ties between diasporic Jews and the Iberian Peninsula, we analyze here various temporally and geographically distinct cases: The case of the converso financier and politican Joseph Nasi (formerly João Micas); the case of the Sephardi convert and anti-Jewish polemicist, João Baptista D’Este (formerly Abraham Bendanan Serfatim); and the case of Portuguese Jews in Salé, Morocco, whose wide-ranging relations with the Portuguese Jews Community of Amsterdam and with Christian Dutchmen made for complex phenomena of identity-construction.     

Lost in the move? Secondary task performance impairs tactile change detection on the body

Change blindness, the surprising inability of people to detect significant changes between consecutively-presented visual displays, has recently been shown to affect tactile perception as well. Visual change blindness has been observed during saccades and eye blinks, conditions under which people’s awareness of visual information is temporarily suppressed. In the present study, we demonstrate change blindness for suprathreshold tactile stimuli resulting from the execution of a secondary task requiring bodily movement. In Experiment 1, the ability of participants to detect changes between two sequentially-presented vibrotactile patterns delivered on their arms and legs was compared while they performed a secondary task consisting of either the execution of a movement with the right arm toward a visual target or the verbal identification of the target side. The results demonstrated that a motor response gave rise to the largest drop in perceptual sensitivity (as measured by changes in d′) in detecting changes to the tactile display. In Experiment 2, we replicated these results under conditions in which the participants had to detect tactile changes while turning a steering wheel instead. These findings are discussed in terms of the role played by bodily movements, sensory suppression, and higher order information processing in modulating people’s awareness of tactile information across the body surface.     

When hoarding is a symptom of OCD: A case series and implications for DSM-V

Hoarding, the excessive collection and failure to discard objects of apparently little value, can represent a serious psychiatric problem and pose a threat to public health. Hoarding has traditionally been considered a symptom (or symptom dimension) of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but its nosological status has recently been debated. Mounting evidence suggests that, once other primary causes are ruled out, hoarding may be a discrete diagnostic entity, recently named Hoarding Disorder. However, hoarding can sometimes be a genuine OCD symptom. This can be confusing and clinicians may sometimes struggle making the differential diagnosis. To illustrate this, we describe 10 OCD patients with severe hoarding behavior that is better conceptualized as a symptom of OCD. We focus on the motivations for hoarding and the overlapping of hoarding with other obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. We estimate that this clinical presentation is relatively rare and accounts for a minority of severe hoarding cases. We discuss the unique characteristics of hoarding as a symptom of OCD and the implications for DSM-V.     

Temporal preparation,response inhibition and impulsivity

Temporal preparation and impulsivity involve overlapping neural structures (prefrontal cortex) and cognitive functions (response inhibition and time perception), however, their interrelations had not been investigated. We studied such interrelations by comparing the performance of groups with low vs. high non-clinical trait impulsivity during a temporal preparation go no-go task. This task measured, in less than 10 min, how response inhibition was influenced both by temporal orienting of attention (guided by predictive temporal cues) and by sequential effects (produced by repetition/alternation of the duration of preparatory intervals in consecutive trials). The results showed that sequential effects produced dissociable patterns of temporal preparation as a function of impulsivity. Sequential effects facilitated both response speed (reaction times – RTs – to the go condition) and response inhibition (false alarms to the no-go condition) selectively in the low impulsivity group. In the high impulsivity group, in contrast, sequential effects only improved RTs but not response inhibition. We concluded that both excitatory and inhibitory processing may be enhanced concurrently by sequential effects, which enables the temporal preparation of fast and controlled responses. Impulsivity could hence be related to less efficient temporal preparation of that inhibitory processing.     

Risk and protective factors at school: Reducing bullies and promoting positive bystanders' behaviors in adolescence

Identifying protective factors present at schools located in neighborhoods with high structural violence is fundamental to help prevent the perpetuation of violence . Therefore, the aim of this study was to observe how some school micro‐system variables, such as school environment and interpersonal relationships that adults establish with adolescents, may lead to bullying behaviors or, on the contrary, to positive bystander behavior in the bully‐victim dynamic. The sample was composed of 5,774 adolescents from 71 schools located in violent neighborhoods in Lima (Peru). 31.9 per cent of the sample experienced verbal violence and the prevalence of cyberbullying was 24.6%. Boys were more prone to experience both types of bullying than girls, although no differences were seen in the probability of becoming aggressors during early and late adolescence. The protective model showed that a positive atmosphere based on a supportive environment with clear rules encouraged adults at school to show more support and to provide more orientation in bullying situations, thus promoting a positive bystander behavior between peers. Opposite results were observed in the risk model. Actions at the micro‐system school level are discussed to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors.     

Grandparent-grandchild contact and attitudes toward older adults: moderator and mediator effects

Two studies tested the intergroup contact hypothesis in the context of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The hypothesis suggests that contact with an out-group member has more influence on attitudes toward the out-group when group memberships are salient. In Study 1, the predicted link was found but only for grandparents with whom the grandchild had more frequent contact. The second study examined only the most frequent grandparent relationship and replicated the effect. This study also investigated the role of various mediators of the link between quality of contact and attitudes, as well as quality of contact and perceived out-group variability. Perspective taking, anxiety, and accommodation mediated the effects of contact on attitudes, whereas individuation and self-disclosure mediated the effects of contact on perceived out-group variability. Moderated mediational analysis indicated that the moderating effect of group salience occurs between quality of contact and the mediator, not between the mediator and attitudes.     

A study on the role of the dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens in allocentric and egocentric spatial memory consolidation

There is now accumulating evidence that the striatal complex in its two major components, the dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens, contributes to spatial memory. However, the possibility that different striatal subregions might modulate specific aspects of spatial navigation has not been completely elucidated. Therefore, in this study, two different learning procedures were used to determine whether the two striatal components could be distinguished on the basis of their involvement in spatial learning using different frames of reference: allocentric and egocentric. The task used involved the detection of a spatial change in the configuration of four objects placed in an arena, after the mice had had the opportunity to experience the objects in a constant position for three previous sessions. In the first part of the study we investigated whether changes in the place where the animals were introduced into the arena during habituation and testing could induce a preferential use of an egocentric or an allocentric frame of reference. In the second part of the study we performed focal injections of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors' antagonist, AP-5, within the two subregions immediately after training. The results indicate that using the two behavioral procedures, the animals rely on an egocentric and an allocentric spatial frame of reference. Furthermore, they demonstrate that AP-5 (37.5, 75, and 150 ng/side) injections into the dorsal striatum selectively impaired consolidation of spatial information in the egocentric but not in the allocentric procedure. Intra-accumbens AP-5 administration, instead, impaired animals trained using both procedures.     

Self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behavior: a replication

A recent study of correlations of self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour has been replicated on a larger sample. Non-clinical volunteers (145 women and 114 men) were administered Schill's Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the EMBU-Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran (own memories of parental education) scale. Replicating previous findings, memories of rejecting or nonsupportive parents were significantly correlated with scores for the Self-defeating Personality Scale for both women (rejecting mother, r = 24; supportive mother, r = -.29; rejecting father, r = .23; supportive father, r = -.36) and men (rejecting mother, r = 40; rejecting father, r = .41; supportive father, r = -.28). Memories of an overinvolved parent were significantly correlated with self-defeating personality scores only among men (mother: r = .41; father: r = .36) as in the original study.     

Discriminative game-related statistics between basketball starters and nonstarters when related to team quality and game outcome

The aim of the present paper was to examine the differences in game-related statistics between basketball players who are selected for the starting five of the team (starters) and those who are not (nonstarters) when related to game outcome (winning and losing) and team quality (best teams, teams classified for the playoffs; and worst teams, teams who miss playoff classification). Archival data were gathered for all 2002-2003 regular season games from the Portuguese Professional League (N = 156). Discriminant analysis was used to identify the game-related statistics that differentiate between starters and nonstarters and interpreted by the examination of the structure coefficients (SC). When the best teams won the games, results described differences between starters and nonstarters with an emphasis on defensive rebounds (SC = .32), assists (SC = .32) and committed fouls (SC = -.68). When the worst teams won the games, results described differences between starters and nonstarters with an emphasis on 2-point field goals successful (SC = .47) and unsuccessful (SC = .48), defensive rebounds (SC =.39), successful free throws (SC =.32), and committed fouls (SC = -.55). An also important finding was that, in best teams, the nonstarters' performance was worse in the games that the team lost, whereas in worst teams, it was the starters' performance that was worse in the games that the team lost.     

Contents of Volume 20

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 20