Closure of salient regions determines search for a collinear target configuration

Grouping operations offer an effective mechanism by which to structure complex visual scenes. Among the various principles that support element integration, closure may be regarded as a main factor in shape extraction. In five experiments, we investigated the impact of grouping by closure on search for target configurations made up of collinearly arranged corner junctions. Systematic variations in the configuration of distractor elements were explored to investigate how the figural information of distractors interferes with target detection. The results showed no search interference for distractor configurations that were open forms. By contrast, distractors making up closed forms reduced the efficiency of search performance, indicating closure as a major contributor to form detection in multielement configurations. In conclusion, the effects reported may be considered to arise from mechanisms of unit formation that support the rapid extraction of salient regions to guide search.     

Zur Beendigung von Lehranalysen

An attempt is made to give an open account about the goals, problems and results concerning the ending of eight training analyses. The connection of trauma, individual defence structure and mental disturbances as well as the need for their therapeutic change is emphasized. Three problems are offered for further discussion: 1. to transform acting outs of training analysts standing under the pressure of the projections by training analysands onto the institute, into interpretation; 2. the difficulty to understand the varieties of the depressive position within the mental patterns of foreign civilisations; 3. the hypothetical effect of the analysis of character neuroses on the abstinence of training analysts and on the decision for lower frequency by former training analysands.     

Independence of long-term contextual memory and short-term perceptual hypotheses: Evidence from contextual cueing of interrupted search

Observers are able to resume an interrupted search trial faster relative to responding to a new, unseen display. This finding of rapid resumption is attributed to short-term perceptual hypotheses generated on the current look and confirmed upon subsequent looks at the same display. It has been suggested that the contents of perceptual hypotheses are similar to those of other forms of memory acquired long-term through repeated exposure to the same search displays over the course of several trials, that is, the memory supporting “contextual cueing.” In three experiments, we investigated the relationship between short-term perceptual hypotheses and long-term contextual memory. The results indicated that long-term, contextual memory of repeated displays neither affected the generation nor the confirmation of short-term perceptual hypotheses for these displays. Furthermore, the analysis of eye movements suggests that long-term memory provides an initial benefit in guiding attention to the target, whereas in subsequent looks guidance is entirely based on short-term perceptual hypotheses. Overall, the results reveal a picture of both long- and short-term memory contributing to reliable performance gains in interrupted search, while exerting their effects in an independent manner.     

Body Experience After Liver Transplantation: A Body Grid Examination

Living with a donated organ raises not only clinical aspects, such as surgery risks and possible graft rejection, but also questions regarding the psychological integration of the donor organ and the recipient's body experience. Organ recipients need to cope with the transplantation and its impact on their bodies and lives. This study presents findings concerning the psychological outcome of liver recipients and their body experience after transplantation. The focus lies on the psychological integration of the liver by the recipients and on differences in the body experience between recipients of a living liver donation (LDLT) and a deceased donor donation (LTx). To study the subjective body experience and the donor-organ integration, we used the body grid, a modification of the repertory grid technique pioneered by Kelly (1955 Kelly, G.A. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. New York, NY: Norton. [Google Scholar]). This technique allows both a quantitative and a qualitative research approach. We examined 22 liver recipients (12 LDLT; 10 LTx), matched for age, gender, years since transplantation, and type of liver disease. Additionally, quality of life data were collected using the Short Form-8 health survey (SF-8), along with sociodemographic data, including the current living situation, changes after transplantation, living donor data, and the donor-recipient relationship for the LDLT cases. Correlations between the SF-8 scores and the element distances were calculated. The results depict the recipients’ body experiences after liver transplantation, the psychological integration of the transplanted organ, and correlations between quality of life and organ integration. Differences between the LDLT and LTx group are discussed, as well as implications for improving the treatment and psychological support of the recipients.     

Electrophysiological markers of visual dimension changes and response changes

In cross-dimensional visual search tasks, target discrimination is faster when the previous trial contained a target defined in the same visual dimension as the current trial. The dimension-weighting account (DWA; A. Found & H. J. Müller, 1996) explains this intertrial facilitation by assuming that visual dimensions are weighted at an early perceptual stage of processing. Recently, this view has been challenged by models claiming that intertrial facilitation effects are generated at later stages that follow attentional target selection (K. Mortier, J. Theeuwes, & P. A. Starreveld, 2005). To determine whether intertrial facilitation is generated at a perceptual stage, at the response selection stage, or both, the authors focused on specific event-related brain potential components (directly linkable to perceptual and response-related processing) during a compound search task. Visual dimension repetitions were mirrored by shorter latencies and enhanced amplitudes of the N2-posterior- contralateral, suggesting a facilitated allocation of attentional resources to the target. Response repetitions and changes systematically modulated the lateralized readiness potential amplitude, suggesting a benefit from residual activations of the previous trial biasing the correct response. Overall, the present findings strengthen the DWA by indicating a perceptual origin of dimension change costs in visual search.     

Critical Afrikaner Intellectuals and Apartheid, 1943–1958

Apartheid dominated the political thinking of two generations of Afrikaner intellectuals from its first conceptualizations in the early 1940s to its disintegration as an ideology during the 1980s. Western Cape politicians, academics, journalists and church leaders were the main contributors to the Sauer Report, which was the greatest influence on the apartheid plank of the National Party's 1948 platform. Although apartheid as a policy did not clinch the NP victory, it won steady support in the course of the 1950s. The article discusses the work of four Afrikaner critics of apartheid as it was conceptualized and implemented in the first decade of NP rule. The most striking observations were those of the ambivalent figure of the poet and essayist N.P. van Wyk Louw, who has remained an important moral voice in the Afrikaner political tradition. André du Toit's Die Sondes van die Vaders (1983) built on some key arguments of Louw in arguing for the abandonment of apartheid as a way of securing Afrikaner survival.     

Die moderne Tierpfychologie

Ohne Zusammenfassung