Lexicality and phonological similarity: A challenge for the retrieval‐based account of serial recall?

The retrieval‐based account of serial recall () attributes lexicality, phonological similarity, and articulatory suppression effects to a process where long‐term representations are used to reconstruct degraded phonological traces. Two experiments tested this assumption by manipulating these factors in the recall of four‐ and five‐item lists of words and non‐words. Lexicality enhanced item recall (IR), but only affected position accuracy (PA) for five‐item lists under suppression. Phonological similarity influenced both words and non‐words, and produced impaired PA in silent and suppressed conditions. Consistent with the retrieval‐based account, words and non‐words of high word‐likeness appear subject to redintegration. However, some findings, like suppression not reducing the phonological similarity impairment in suppressed conditions, present challenges for the retrieval‐based account and other models of serial recall.     

Correlates of Dispositional and State Flow in Tennis Competition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological correlates and flow in tennis competition. Using a cross-sectional design, the sample of 261 junior tennis athletes showed moderate-to-strong correlations between flow (dispositional and state) and confidence (r _disp = .59; r _state = .35), imagery use (r _disp = .58; r _state = .32), and action control (r _disp = .41; r _state = .40), whereas absorption was orthogonal to flow. Commonality analysis revealed that imagery and confidence accounted for 34.2% of the variance in dispositional flow. The results are discussed for the development of intervention studies in order to enhance flow in competition.     

Mad Scientists, Narrative, and Social Power: A Collaborative Learning Activity

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories “The Birthmark” (1843) and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844) encourage critical thinking about science and scientific research as forms of social power. In this collaborative activity, students work in small groups to discuss the ways in which these stories address questions of human experimentation, gender, manipulation of bodies, and the role of narrative in mediating perceptions about bodies. Students collectively adduce textual evidence from the stories to construct claims and present a mini-argument to the class, thereby strengthening their skills in communication and cooperative interpretation of ethical dilemmas. This exercise is adaptable to shorter and longer periods of instruction, and it is ideal for instructors who collaborate across areas of expertise.     

“It Ain't Over ‘til It's Over”: Infinite Conversations,Imperfect Endings,and the Elusive Nature of Termination

Despite general agreement as to the importance and subtlety of managing the final (“termination”) phase of psychoanalysis, the way that analytic work is brought to a close has been both undertheorized and problematic in practice. How and under what conditions a psychoanalytic process might best be brought to an end is a problem that has plagued psychoanalytic theorists, clinicians, and their patients from the earliest days of psychoanalysis. Patient and analyst do not discover a “royal road” to the end of analysis. Rather, patient and analyst together forge a trail through the thickets of their work to a juncture at which they find that their paths can once again diverge. This paper attempts to explore the ways in which patients and analysts negotiate these most complex and elusive transitions. Analyst and analysand, having come to recognize the limits of their conscious awareness and the ultimate uncertainty at the heart of the psychoanalytic process, must live with the tension generated in the encounter between the inherent limits that eventually will herald the end of analysis and the recognition of new possibilities that beckon the pair into new byways of analytic exploration. Since we can never be certain when ending analysis forecloses promising avenues of new growth, or when continuing analysis constitutes a collusion between patient and analyst in eluding the difficult but ultimately generative ending of analysis, the author suggests that it is preferable to hold the notion of termination lightly, trying as best he can throughout an analysis to facilitate the exploration of its very boundaries, limits, and possibilities.     

Oxytocin increases willingness to socially share one's emotions

Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide that is attracting growing attention from researchers interested in human emotional and social behavior. There is indeed increasing evidence that OT has a calming effect and that it facilitates pair‐bonding and social interactions. Some of OT's effects are thought to be direct, but it has been suggested that OT also may have indirect effects, mediated by changes in behavior. One potentially relevant behavioral change is an increased propensity for “emotional sharing” as this behavior, like OT, is known to have both calming and bonding effects. In this study, 60 healthy young adult men were randomly assigned to receive either intranasal placebo (PL; n = 30) or oxytocin (OT; n = 30). Participants were then instructed to retrieve a painful memory. Subsequently, OT and placebo participants’ willingness to disclose to another person event‐related facts (factual sharing) vs. event‐related emotions (emotional sharing) was evaluated. Whereas the two groups were equally willing to disclose event‐related facts, oxytocin was found to specifically increase the willingness to share event‐related emotions. This study provides the first evidence that OT increases people's willingness to share their emotions. Importantly, OT did not make people more talkative (word counts were comparable across the two groups) but instead increased the willingness to share the specific component that is responsible for the calming and bonding effects of social sharing: emotions. Findings suggest that OT may shape the form of social sharing so as to maximize its benefits. This might help explain the calming and bonding effects of OT.     

Violent Delinquency: An Examination of Psychopathic Typologies

This study sought to determine the combined effects of psychopathy, low intellectual functioning, and love deprivation on violent delinquency. Low-intellectual-functioning psychopaths were significantly more violent than were low or high-intellectual-functioning nonpsychopaths or high-intellectual-functioning psychopaths. Love deprivation was more strongly related to violence than was psychopathy/intellectual functioning, and severely love-deprived, low-intellectual-functioning psychopaths were the most violent.