Cross-cultural similarities in category structure

Categories, as mental structures, are more than simply sums of property frequencies. A number of recent studies have supported the view that the properties of categories may be organised along functional lines and possibly dependency structures more generally. The study presented here investigates whether earlier findings reflect something unique in the English language/North American culture or whether the functional structuring of categories is a more universal phenomenon. A population of English-speaking Americans was compared to a population of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese. The findings clearly support the view that functional influences on category centrality are universal (or at least common to Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong Chinese and English-speaking Americans), albeit with specific cross-cultural/cross-linguistic group differences in the particular properties that are considered central to categories.     

Aprendiendo a usar el Researcher-ID como indicador de la producción científica

The research focused on the development of scientific production measurements implies a detailed and quite accurately procedure to avoid errors and misinterpretations by third parties. The use of public researcher profiles such as the Researcher ID among others, may appeal to simplify the process of direct search on databases. The purpose of this research is to analyze the Researcher ID profile as an indicator of scientific productivity in a sample of 8 Spanish professors of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment area and compare these professors searching them in the Web of Science, also respond to a disagreement generated from a previous study published in Psicothema and culminated in a letter, as that there are unfounded arguments exposed. The results show that there are inaccuracies in the Researcher ID's and therefore cannot be used as an indicator of scientific production, since this tool allows to include any record type (letters, meeting abstracts, etc…) even unrelated content to the Web of Science. These findings are discussed a view to the disagreement and previously mentioned and generated in Psicothema.     

Disruptions of social relationships accentuate the association between emotional distress and menstrual pain in young women.

This study examined the effects of social support on dysmenorrhea and whether social support moderates the relationship between negative emotions and painful symptoms. Women (N = 184) completed questionnaires on menstrual symptoms, depression, anxiety, and social networks. Depression and anxiety were strongly associated with menstrual pain. Women who no longer had access to their prior support providers manifested more symptoms than did women with stable social relations. In addition, this disruption in their social networks moderated the relationship between distress and menstrual pain. Results indicate that loss of social support is a significant contributor to menstrual symptoms and point to the importance of considering specific aspects of social support in studying its effect on health.     

Metacognitive scaffolding boosts cognitive and neural benefits following executive attention training in children

Interventions including social scaffolding and metacognitive strategies have been used in educational settings to promote cognition. In addition, increasing evidence shows that computerized process‐based training enhances cognitive skills. However, no prior studies have examined the effect of combining these two training strategies. The goal of this study was to test the combined effect of metacognitive scaffolding and computer‐based training of executive attention in a sample of typically developing preschoolers at the cognitive and brain levels. Compared to children in the regular training protocol and an untrained active control group, children in the metacognitive group showed larger gains on intelligence and significant increases on an electrophysiological index associated with conflict processing. Moreover, changes in the conflict‐related brain activity predicted gains in intelligence in the metacognitive scaffolding group. These results suggest that metacognitive scaffolding boosts the influence of process‐based training on cognitive efficiency and brain plasticity related to executive attention.     

Dynamic Psychotherapy and the Problem of Time

This paper examines the dilemmas psychodynamic clinicians face in dealing with the challenges of the current clinical climate. We look to our theories, to the evolution of psychodynamic technique and to the collaborative nature of the therapeutic endeavor as they relate to the goals of psychotherapy. A case illustration is provided, and guidelines are offered for current professional practice.     

Electrophysiological correlates of the composite face illusion: Disentangling perceptual and decisional components of holistic face processing in the human brain

When the bottom halves of two faces differ, people’s behavioral judgment of the identical top halves of those faces is impaired: they report that the top halves are different, and/or take more time than usual to provide a response. This behavioral measure is known as the composite face effect (CFE) and has traditionally been taken as evidence that faces are perceived holistically. Recently, however, it has been claimed that this effect is driven almost entirely by decisional, rather than perceptual, factors ( Richler, Gauthier, Wenger, & Palmeri, 2008). To disentangle the contribution of perceptual and decisional brain processes, we aimed to obtain an event-related potential (ERP) measure of the CFE at a stage of face encoding ( Jacques & Rossion, 2009) in the absence of a behavioral CFE effect. Sixteen participants performed a go/no-go task in an oddball paradigm, lifting a finger of their right or left hand when the top half of a face changed identity. This change of identity of the top of the face was associated with an increased ERP signal on occipito-temporal electrode sites at the N170 face-sensitive component (∼160 ms), the later decisional P3b component, and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) starting at ∼350 ms. The N170 effect was observed equally early when only the unattended bottom part of the face changed, indicating that an identity change was perceived across the whole face in this condition. Importantly, there was no behavioral response bias for the bottom change trials, and no evidence of decisional biases from electrophysiological data (no P3b and LRP deflection in no-go trials). These data show that an early CFE can be measured in ERPs in the absence of any decisional response bias, indicating that the CFE reflects primarily the visual perception of the whole face.     

Development and initial validation of the Classroom Motivational Climate Questionnaire (CMCQ)

Research on classroom goal-structures (CGS) has shown the usefulness of assessing the classroom motivational climate to evaluate educational interventions and to promote changes in teachers' activity. So, the Classroom Motivational Climate Questionnaire for Secondary and High-School students was developed. To validate it, confirmatory factor analysis and correlation and regression analyses were performed. Results showed that the CMCQ is a highly reliable instrument that covers many of the types of teaching patterns that favour motivation to learn, correlates as expected with other measures of CGS, predicts satisfaction with teacher's work well, and allows detecting teachers who should revise their teaching.     

Activity/nonactivity and the group therapist: “Don't just do something,sit there”

The abstinent stance of psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians is often confused with passivity or coldness toward the patient or the group. Given the current move toward more active, shorter-term treatment, this paper offers a reaffirmation of the value of the abstinent analytic stance. The theoretical rationale for the technique is reviewed, and some specific arguments are made to illustrate the continuing importance of the method in the treatment of patients in psychodynamic group psychotherapy.Reputed to be Adlai Stevenson's advice to President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.