Antonyms and Paradoxes

Adjectives can be gradable or non-gradable and this aspect of their meaning is responsible for their different distribution and also for their classification into two different classes of antonyms. Non-gradable antonyms are called contradictories: they are neither true nor false together and exclude any middle term; gradable antonyms are called contraries: they are not simultaneously true, but may be simultaneously false. While with contraries a negative disjunction (neque...neque) can define an intermediate level, with contradictories it simply means that either term of the disjunction is excluded. There are however some Latin examples, such as neque vivus neque mortuus (`neither alive nor dead'), where the negation of a contradictory pair is used to convey a third, intermediate value. This third possibility is precisely what gives place to a paradox. Such an intermediate level can be defined also by terms like semivivus, semianimis (`half-dead'). Following Ducrot's theory on argumentation, such terms represent an argumentative attenuation, not with respect to life, rather with respect to death. With contradictories, in fact, the use of semi-, like the use of negation, gives the assertion of the opposite term as a result.     

Am I guilty or not? Deontological guilt,uncertainty, and checking behavior

Literature suggests that checking behaviors are aimed at reducing feelings of uncertainty both in clinical samples with obsessive‐compulsive disorder and in general population. Previous studies also showed that deontological guilt is an emotion often associated with obsessive‐compulsive disorder. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the differences in checking behaviors in the condition of high versus low uncertainty, by exploring the moderating role of deontological versus altruistic guilt. Participants were 108 undergraduate Italian university students who took part in a visual search task designed to elicit checking behavior. Ahead of the visual task, participants were administered one scenario in order to manipulate either deontological or altruistic guilt. The results showed that in the condition of uncertainty, compared with the condition of certainty, participants spent more time in checking behaviors and that such a difference was more consistent when participants experienced deontological rather than altruistic guilt. Limitations and further directions are discussed.     

Global and local processing in Williams syndrome: drawing versus perceiving.

It has been hypothesized that a local processing bias underlies overall visuospatial impairments in Williams syndrome (WS). However, recent studies have challenged this hypothesis by providing evidence against a local processing bias at the perceptual level. The aim of the present study was to further examine drawing and perceptual skills in children with WS using closely matched-hierarchical stimuli. In the drawing task children with WS exhibited a local processing bias. However, no significant preferential bias was found in the perceptual task. This indicates that children with WS do not systematically present a preferential bias for local information. Taken together the findings of the present study suggest that perceptual processing deficits per se are unlikely to explain local processing biases in visuoconstructive tasks often described in people with WS.     

Optimizing treatment in social phobia: a review of treatment resistance

Over the last 25 years, there has been a rapid expansion of our knowledge base of social phobia (SP). Although there are a number of well-validated treatment modalities, including pharmacotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, significant gaps remain in our ability to achieve full remission in most patients. Despite advances in the neurobiology of SP, the etiology has yet to be determined. Investigations examining potential predictors of response have provided little guidance in selecting an appropriate treatment modality. These gaps in our knowledge have pushed us to examine issues related to treatment resistance. This paper presents a review of the current literature and issues related to treatment-resistant SP, including a discussion of the functional impairment associated with SP, definitions of treatment response and remission, as well as outcome measures that have been used in clinical investigations of SP. In addition, criteria for a standard treatment trial, predictors of treatment response, a review of treatment resistance studies, and potential directions for future research are examined. The most promising strategies to attain remission, will likely involve augmenting selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors with agents such as anticonvulsants, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics as well as combining pharmacotherapy with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Our current treatment target of simply attaining a response needs to be refocused, so that an asymptomatic state and high end state functioning become the final goal of treatment.     

Understanding Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: Focus on Decision Making

Current approaches to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have suggested that neurobiological abnormalities play a crucial role in the etiology and course of this psychiatric illness. In particular, a fronto-subcortical circuit, including the orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia and thalamus appears to be involved in the expression of OCD symptoms. Neuropsychological studies have also shown that patients with OCD show deficits in cognitive abilities that are strictly linked to the functioning of the frontal lobe and its related fronto-subcortical structures, such as executive functioning deficits and insufficient cognitive-behavioral flexibility. This article focuses on decision making, an executive ability that plays a crucial role in many real-life situations, whereby individuals choose between pursuing strategies of action that involve only immediate reward and others based on long-term reward. Although the role of decision-making deficits in the evolution of OCD requires further research, the collected findings have significant implications for understanding the clinical and behavioral heterogeneity that characterizes individuals with OCD.     

Influence of the instructions on the performance and establishment of memorization strategies in space judgments

Studies of visual space perception have been assuming that people have an internal representation of the physical space that surrounds them. A variety of psychophysical procedures has been used in an attempt to measure the properties of visual space. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of the mental representation and the strategies adopted to acquire and retain visuo-spatial information of a configuration as a function of two types of instructions. Thirty-eight undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study and were distributed in perceptive and mnemonic experimental conditions. The effect of the instructions (intentional and incidental) on the representation of the distances among the objects of the scene was estimated using exponents of power function, based on the reproduction of the distances among the stimuli of the scene. The results revealed that judgments made under intentional instructions were more frequently based on strategies related to the location of the stimuli, whereas judgments originating from incidental instructions were based on strategies related to the name of the stimuli. It was observed that the intentional instruction facilitated a more accurate mental representation of the observed experimental configuration, enhancing participants' performance.     

Masculine girls and feminine boys: genetic and environmental contributions to atypical gender development in early childhood

In this genetic study of atypical gender role development, parents of 5,799 twin pairs, ages 3 and 4, rated their twin children's masculinity and femininity. Boys were selected as gender atypical if they were highly feminine (top 5%, 10%, or 15%) relative to other boys, and girls were selected if they were highly masculine relative to other girls. Gender-atypical boys and girls were each divided into 2 groups: fully gender atypical (e.g., feminine boys also low on masculinity) and partially gender atypical (e.g., feminine boys who are not low on masculinity). DeFries-Fulker (DF; J. C. DeFries & D. W. Fulker, 1985, 1988) extremes analysis yielded moderate group heritability and substantial shared environment effects for atypical gender role behavior. However, for fully gender-atypical girls, group heritability accounted for most of the variance, and shared environment had no effect. The results are discussed in light of past studies and potential implications for atypical gender development.