PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY,ETHICS, AND LOVE: TOWARD A NEW RELIGION AND SCIENCE DIALOGUE

Religion and science dialogues that orbit around rational method, knowledge, and truth are often, though not always, contentious. In this article, I suggest a different cluster of gravitational points around which religion and science dialogues might usefully travel: philosophical anthropology, ethics, and love. I propose seeing morality as a natural outgrowth of the human desire to establish and maintain social bonds so as not to experience the condition of being alone. Humans, of all animals, need to feel loved—defined as a compassionate present‐with in dynamic dyadic relation such that one experiences the sense of mattering—but that need has an equally natural tendency to be met by creating biased us‐and‐them distinctions. A “critical” natural ethics, then, is one in which we become aware of and work to undermine our tendency to reify in‐group distinctions between “us” and “them.” Religious communities that work intentionally on this can be seen, to some extent, as laboratories of love—or as sites for co‐creating knowledge in perilous times.     

Empathy,social psychology,and global helping traits

The central virtue at issue in recent philosophical discussions of the empirical adequacy of virtue ethics has been the virtue of compassion. Opponents of virtue ethics such as Gilbert Harman and John Doris argue that experimental results from social psychology concerning helping behavior are best explained not by appealing to so-called ‘global’ character traits like compassion, but rather by appealing to external situational forces or, at best, to highly individualized ‘local’ character traits. In response, a number of philosophers have argued that virtue ethics can accommodate the empirical results in question. My own view is that neither side of this debate is looking in the right direction. For there is an impressive array of evidence from the social psychology literature which suggests that many people do possess one or more robust global character traits pertaining to helping others in need. But at the same time, such traits are noticeably different from a traditional virtue like compassion.

Individual differences in cognitive plasticity: an investigation of training curves in younger and older adults

To date, cognitive intervention research has provided mixed but nevertheless promising evidence with respect to the effects of cognitive training on untrained tasks (transfer). However, the mechanisms behind learning, training effects and their predictors are not fully understood. Moreover, individual differences, which may constitute an important factor impacting training outcome, are usually neglected. We suggest investigating individual training performance across training sessions in order to gain finer-grained knowledge of training gains, on the one hand, and assessing the potential impact of predictors such as age and fluid intelligence on learning rate, on the other hand. To this aim, we propose to model individual learning curves to examine the intra-individual change in training as well as inter-individual differences in intra-individual change. We recommend introducing a latent growth curve model (LGCM) analysis, a method frequently applied to learning data but rarely used in cognitive training research. Such advanced analyses of the training phase allow identifying factors to be respected when designing effective tailor-made training interventions. To illustrate the proposed approach, a LGCM analysis using data of a 10-day working memory training study in younger and older adults is reported.     

Improving Outcomes for Youth with ADHD: A Conceptual Framework for Combined Neurocognitive and Skill-Based Treatment Approaches

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and chronic mental health condition that often results in substantial impairments throughout life. Although evidence-based pharmacological and psychosocial treatments exist for ADHD, effects of these treatments are acute, do not typically generalize into non-treated settings, rarely sustain over time, and insufficiently affect key areas of functional impairment (i.e., family, social, and academic functioning) and executive functioning. The limitations of current evidence-based treatments may be due to the inability of these treatments to address underlying neurocognitive deficits that are related to the symptoms of ADHD and associated areas of functional impairment. Although efforts have been made to directly target the underlying neurocognitive deficits of ADHD, extant neurocognitive interventions have shown limited efficacy, possibly due to misspecification of training targets and inadequate potency. We argue herein that despite these limitations, next-generation neurocognitive training programs that more precisely and potently target neurocognitive deficits may lead to optimal outcomes when used in combination with specific skill-based psychosocial treatments for ADHD. We discuss the rationale for such a combined treatment approach, prominent examples of this combined treatment approach for other mental health disorders, and potential combined treatment approaches for pediatric ADHD. Finally, we conclude with directions for future research necessary to develop a combined neurocognitive + skill-based treatment for youth with ADHD.     

How writing system and age influence spatial representations of actions: a developmental, cross-linguistic study

Recently, researchers reported a bias for placing agents predominantly on the left side of pictures. Both hemispheric specialization and cultural preferences have been hypothesized to be the origin of this bias. To evaluate these hypotheses, we conducted a study with participants exposed to different reading and writing systems: Germans, who use a left-to-right system, and Israelis, who use a right-to-left system. In addition, we manipulated the degree of exposure to the writing systems by testing preschoolers and adults. Participants heard agent-first or recipient-first sentences and were asked to draw the content of the sentences or to arrange transparencies of protagonists and objects such that their arrangement depicted the sentences. Although preschool-age children in both countries showed no directional bias, adults manifested a bias that was consistent with the writing system of their language. These results support the cultural hypothesis regarding the origin of spatial-representational biases.     

Does Symptom Linkage Density Predict Outcomes in Cognitive Therapy for Recurrent Depression?

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - Acute-phase cognitive therapy (CT) is an efficacious treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), but how CT helps patients is incompletely...     

Electrophysiological evidence for age effects on sensory memory processing of tonal patterns

In older adults, difficulties processing complex auditory scenes, such as speech comprehension in noisy environments, might be due to a specific impairment of temporal processing at early, automatic processing stages involving auditory sensory memory (ASM). Even though age effects on auditory temporal processing have been well-documented, there is a paucity of research on how ASM processing of more complex tone-patterns is altered by age. In the current study, age effects on ASM processing of temporal and frequency aspects of two-tone patterns were investigated using a passive listening protocol. The P1 component, the mismatch negativity (MMN) and the P3a component of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to tone frequency and temporal pattern deviants were recorded in younger and older adults as a measure of auditory event detection, ASM processing, and attention switching, respectively. MMN was elicited with smaller amplitude to both frequency and temporal deviants in older adults. Furthermore, P3a was elicited only in the younger adults. In conclusion, the smaller MMN amplitude indicates that automatic processing of both frequency and temporal aspects of two-tone patterns is impaired in older adults. The failure to initiate an attention switch, suggested by the absence of P3a, indicates that impaired ASM processing of patterns may lead to less distractibility in older adults. Our results suggest age-related changes in ASM processing of patterns that cannot be explained by an inhibitory deficit.     

Defining the Role of Laboratory Genetic Counselor

An increasing number of genetic counselors are moving into non-clinical roles, where their primary duties do not involve direct patient contact. According to the National Society of Genetic Counselors Professional Status Survey in 2010, 23% of counselors working in non-clinical roles identified laboratory or genetic testing as their primary area of work. Using a survey, we identified 43 genetic counselors who work predominately in laboratory settings. The two primary tasks performed by participants, include acting as a customer liaison (95%) and calling out test results (88%). Nineteen participants (44.2%) also reported spending a considerable amount of time signing reports. The most prevalent areas of job satisfaction were support from laboratory directors (76.8%), autonomy (76.7%), interactions with clinicians (69.7%) and interaction with other genetics counselors (67.5%). This is the first study specifically looking at the roles of laboratory genetic counselors, which is an expanding area of genetic counseling.     

Objects with a past: Husserl on “ad-memorizing apperceptions”

In a late notation from 1932, Husserl emphasizes the fact that a broad concept of ??apperception?? should also include, alongside his usual examples, the apprehension of objects as bearers of an individual or inter-subjective past, specifically ??indicated?? with them; thus, he distinguishes between apperceptions ??appresenting?? a simultaneous content (co-presentations), anticipatory apperceptions pointing to future incidents, and retrospective apperceptions referring to ??ad-memorized?? (hinzuerinnert, ad-memoriert) features and events. The latter sort of apperceptions are involved not only in our apprehension of historical traces and relics, but also in that of causal relations, familiar objects, and cultural objects in general. Following several later notations of Husserl concerning the topic of ??apperceptions,?? this paper outlines the specific intentional structure of retrospective or evocative apperceptions, analyzing their various possible forms.