What Does Psychological Autopsy Study Tell Us About Charcoal Burning Suicide—A New and Contagious Method in Asia?

Charcoal burning suicides in Hong Kong between 2002–2004 in the 15 to 59‐year‐old age group were investigated using the psychological autopsy method. The psychopathological profiles of charcoal burning suicides (N = 53) were compared against “other suicides” (N = 97). The two groups did not differ significantly in the prevalence of DSM‐IV axis I diagnoses with the exception of schizophrenic spectrum disorder which was less frequently associated with charcoal burning suicides. Score on “neuroticism” in the NEO‐five Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) was significantly higher in victims of charcoal burning suicide. There was also a trend toward higher score on “conscientiousness” in the NEO‐FFI among charcoal burners than victims of other suicide.     

Acalculia in a patient with severe language disturbances: how do we test it?

The present paper describes a case of a patient with severe Wernicke aphasia, which when tested with a number processing and calculation battery adapted to his difficulties showed remarkable arithmetic skills. These findings suggest that the patients with severe cognitive impairments (e.g., aphasia, apraxia) should be tested with batteries adapted to their disturbances because using a standard test may bias the results.     

Imitation in infancy: the wealth of the stimulus

Imitation requires the imitator to solve the correspondence problem--to translate visual information from modelled action into matching motor output. It has been widely accepted for some 30 years that the correspondence problem is solved by a specialized, innate cognitive mechanism. This is the conclusion of a poverty of the stimulus argument, realized in the active intermodal matching model of imitation, which assumes that human neonates can imitate a range of body movements. An alternative, wealth of the stimulus argument, embodied in the associative sequence learning model of imitation, proposes that the correspondence problem is solved by sensorimotor learning, and that the experience necessary for this kind of learning is provided by the sociocultural environment during human development. In a detailed and wide-ranging review of research on imitation and imitation-relevant behaviour in infancy and beyond, we find substantially more evidence in favour of the wealth argument than of the poverty argument.