Psychological compensation: a theoretical framework.

The 2 main objectives of this article are to review a variety of literatures in which the concept of compensation is used and to integrate the results of this review into a general framework of compensation. The review focuses on 4 domains of psychological inquiry: compensation for sensory handicaps, cognitive deficits, interpersonal losses, and brain injury. In the proposed framework, underlying dimensions and 4 basic steps in the progression of compensatory behavior are distinguished. The latter include origins, mechanisms, forms, and consequences. Finally, we describe ways in which researchers in particular domains can benefit from the global, process-oriented framework we propose. For most of the areas of compensation research reviewed, investigators can profit from a consideration of a broader selection of dimensions, additional steps in the process, alternative outcomes, and both objective and subjective assessment procedures.     

From Monroe to Moreau: an analysis of face naming errors.

Functional models of face recognition and speech production have developed separately. However, naming a familiar face is, of course, an act of speech production. In this paper we propose a revision of Bruce and Young's (1986) model of face processing, which incorporates two features of Levelt's (1989) model of speech production. In particular, the proposed model includes two stages of lexical access for names and monitoring of face naming based on a "perceptual loop". Two predictions were derived from the perceptual loop hypothesis of speech monitoring: (1) naming errors in which a (correct) rare surname is erroneously replaced by a common surname should occur more frequently than the reverse substitution (the error asymmetry effect); (2) naming errors in which a common surname is articulated are more likely to be repaired than errors which result in articulation of a rare surname (the error-repairing effect). Both predictions were supported by an analysis of face naming errors in a laboratory face naming task. In a further experiment we considered the possibility that the effects of surname frequency observed in face naming errors could be explained by the frequency sensitivity of lexical access in speech production. However, no effect of the frequency of the surname of the faces used in the previous experiment was found on face naming latencies. Therefore, it is concluded that the perceptual loop hypothesis provides the more parsimonious account of the entire pattern of the results.     

Predictors of short-term treatment outcome in bulimia nervosa inpatients.

Recent studies, mostly performed on bulimic outpatients, did not find consistent predictors of treatment outcome in bulimia nervosa. This is the first study to investigate anamnestic and clinical factors predictive of the short-term outcome of hospital treatment in 31 female bulimia nervosa patients with a mean age of 22.9 yr. Treatment outcome was assessed by several self-rating instruments measuring different features of the specific and unspecific psychopathology of bulimia nervosa. The most relevant predictors of the outcome of the 8-week hospital treatment were duration of previous inpatient treatments for bulimia, the intensity of anorexic tendency and the pretreatment level of depression. The majority of predictors tested did not show a strong relationship to treatment outcome. The findings are discussed in relation to results of other studies as well as to possible implications for treatment and research.     

Quantitative scores of normal and abnormal subjects on Initial-letter Word-association Test.

The quotient of the mean quantitative score on Initial-letter Word-association Test for 193 normal subjects was significantly higher than the quotient of the mean quantitative score of 44 abnormal (psychotic) subjects. This is interpreted as meaning that, in general, the normal subjects have predominantly a positive attitude towards their surrounding world in contradistinction to the abnormal subjects whose attitude was predominantly negative, ambivalent, and repressive. On the other hand, the mean of the quotients of the quantitative scores of the 44 abnormal subjects was higher than the mean of the quotients of the quantitative scores of the normal subjects which suggests increased oral tendencies of the abnormal subjects expressed much as the unwarranted optimism of small children.     

Slow alpha in the EEG power spectrum as an indicator for conceptual arousal]

Based on previous findings (B?sel et al., 1990) it was assumed that in concept learning tasks generating on hypotheses on a concept which has to be developed is accompanied by increases of the Alpha 1 power (7.5-10 Hz) in the spontaneous EEG activity. In this study 16 subjects performed five problem solving tasks with similar processing requirements. EEG data were analyzed by means of post hoc comparisons of subjects differing in performance quality. Additionally, four control tasks were employed in which, based on previous studies, variations in the Theta frequency range were expected. An effect in the Alpha 1 frequency band was observed in tasks requiring reconstructive recall or testing the usefulness of an mathematical algorithm. The creation of a rank order or mental map is accompanied by power increases in the lower portions of the Alpha 1 frequency band (7.5-8.5 Hz). Moreover a high amount of controlled variance (eta2 up to 34%) was obtained for this effect. Increases in EEG Theta power, which presumably indicate subjects' component analysis, were found before the subjects recognized parts of geometric figures or before relevant features in the "buddhist monk problem" were discriminated. The dynamics of EEG power over time is in examples of frequency/time plots in a figure, illustrated.     

EMG reactions of mimetic muscles after repeated presentation of pictures with positive, negative and neutral content]

Twenty male subjects (Ss) were repeatedly confronted for five seconds to pictures with positive, negative and neutral valence. During the picture presentation facial EMG-reactions of five mimic muscles (m. frontalis lateralis, m. corrugator supercilii, m. orbicularis oculi, m. zygomaticus major on the right and left side of the face) were recorded. In addition, heart rate was measured. It could be shown that during repeated presentation of pictures with positive valence the m. orbicularis oculi and the m. zygomaticus major on both sides of the face yielded enhanced average EMG-reactions as compared to the repeated presentation of pictures with negative and neutral valence. During presentation of pictures with negative valence the m. frontalis lateralis and the m. corrugator supercilii revealed enhanced EMG-reactions as compared to the repeated presentation of pictures with positive valence. Furthermore, it could be shown that during the repeated presentation of pictures with positive valence those facial muscles which mainly react during confrontation with pictures of positive valence showed a continuous decrease of EMG-activity. Facial muscles which mainly react during the presentation of pictures with negative valence do not show a continuous decrease in EMG-activity during the course of the repeated presentation of pictures with negative valence. Additionally, the EMG-activity of the m. zygomaticus major on the right and lift side of the face do not differ with respect to the mean activity and the time course during confrontation of pictures with positive valence. The m. orbicularis oculi yielded enhanced EMG-reactions during the presentation of pictures with positive valence as compared to both m. zygomaticus major muscles. The present results are discussed with respect to psychobiological theories concerning facial expression.     

Discrimination learning of rotated faces: a Markov analysis of coding and association processes]

30 subjects participated in a discrimination experiment learning face-letter associations under four rotation conditions (45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, 180 degrees). Under each condition two thirds of the faces were presented twice, upright and rotated away from the vertical; the remaining faces were presented once, upright or rotated. Learning is described by a joint Markov model: For faces that are presented twice it assumes a separate association and encoding process (two-stage-model), for faces that are presented once it assumes an association process (all-or-none-model). The Markov model fits the data for all four rotation conditions. The angle of rotation does not affect learning for faces that are presented once. For faces that are presented twice it influences both the association and the encoding process. For the angles employed, the effect of rotation can be approximated linearly. The results suggest that the encoding of a rotated face differs increasingly from an upright face as a function of these angles of rotation. This confirms analogous conclusions from mental rotation experiments.     

Search behavior in various breeds of adult dogs (Canis familiaris): object permanence and olfactory cues.

Human analog tests of object permanence were administered to various breeds of adult dogs (Canis familiaris). Experiment 1 showed that the performance of terriers, sporting, and working dogs did not differ. Dogs succeeded in solving invisible displacement problems, but performance was lower than in visible displacement tests. Familiarity with the task had some influence because invisible displacement tests were more successful if they were preceded by visible displacement tests. In Experiment 2, odor cues from the target object and the hiding screens were available or were masked. Results confirmed that success was lower in invisible than in visible displacement tests and that these problems were solved on the basis of representation of visual information rather than on the basis of olfactory cues or of local rule learning. Dogs are compared with other species that display Stage 6 object permanence.