Exploring the Relation Between Memory, Gestural Communication, and the Emergence of Language in Infancy: A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between recall memory, visual recognition memory, social communication, and the emergence of language skills was measured in a longitudinal study. Thirty typically developing Swedish children were tested at 6, 9 and 14 months. The result showed that, in combination, visual recognition memory at 6 months, deferred imitation at 9 months and turn-taking skills at 14 months could explain 41% of the variance in the infants' production of communicative gestures as measured by a Swedish variant of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). In this statistical model, deferred imitation stood out as the strongest predictor.     

Evaluating the validity of Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator theory: A teaching tool and window into intuitive psychology

Despite its immense popularity and impressive longevity, the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has existed in a parallel universe to social and personality psychology. Here, we seek to increase academic awareness of this incredibly popular idea and provide a novel teaching reference for its conceptual flaws. We focus on examining the validity of the Jungian‐based theory behind MBTI that specifies that people have a “true type” delineated across four dichotomies. We find that the MBTI theory falters on rigorous theoretical criteria in that it lacks agreement with known facts and data, lacks testability, and possesses internal contradictions. We further discuss what MBTI's continued popularity says about how the general public might evaluate scientific theories.     

Maternal separation exaggerates the toxic effects of 6-hydroxydopamine in rats: implications for neurodegenerative disorders

Many studies have shown that early life stress may lead to impaired brain development, and may be a risk factor for developing psychiatric pathologies such as depression. However, few studies have investigated the impact that early life stress might have on the onset and development of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, which is characterized in part by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway. The present study subjected rat pups to a maternal separation paradigm that has been shown to model adverse early life events, and investigated the effects that it has on motor deficits induced by a unilateral, intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (12 microg/4 microl). The female rats were assessed for behavioral changes at 28 days post-lesion with a battery of tests that are sensitive to the degree of dopamine loss. The results showed that rats that had been subjected to maternal separation display significantly impaired performance in the vibrissae and single-limb akinesia test when compared to normally reared animals. In addition, there was a significant increase in the loss of tyrosine hydroxylase staining in maternally separated rats. Our results therefore suggest that adverse experiences sustained during early life contribute to making dopamine neurons more susceptible to subsequent insults occurring during more mature stages of life and may therefore play a role in the etiopathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.     

Depression, anhedonia, and psychomotor symptoms: the role of dopaminergic neurocircuitry

The heterogeneity of major depression suggests that multiple neurocircuits and neurochemicals are involved in its pathogenesis. Anhedonia and psychomotor symptoms are, however, particularly characteristic features of major depression and may provide insights into its underlying psychobiology. Importantly, these symptoms appear to be mediated by dopaminergic mesolimbic and mesostriatal projections, the function of which is, in turn, influenced by key gene variants and environment stressors. Indeed, there is growing evidence of the way in which the dopaminergic system is associated with cognitive-affective disturbances in depression, and provides a useful target for therapeutic interventions. At the same time, a range of other systems are likely to contribute to the psychobiology of this condition.     

'Divinity expresses the self ...' An investigation.

The self is more than conscious identity and location (i.e., the ego) because it includes and expresses the full range of the psyche, all conscious and unconscious elements included, and it is responsible for the unity of the psyche as a whole. Beyond this, the self concept sets up the basis for the linkage between analytical psychology and religious doctrines of transcendence. It has been stated by critics and sympathizers that Jung was a 'mystic', or a throwback to pre-Enlightenment medievalism, who equated the self with God, mixed up categories of transcendence and immanence, and put the psyche on a symbolic par with Divinity. While this does contain a kernel of truth about his late views, it is not quite as straightforward as it sounds. This essay(1) explores the complex relation of the self to the transcendent (Divinity), as Jung understood these terms and employed them, focusing especially on a critical passage from his last major work, Mysterium Coniunctionis. The notion of self as imago Dei grasps the paradoxical nature of the self, a coincidentia oppositorum that is at once personal and impersonal, embodying a pattern of Divinity that also is revealed as a coincidentia oppositorum, immanent and transcendent. Jung posits, moreover, a dynamic interactive relation between the self and the transcendence it mirrors. Altogether, this combination of features regarding the self sets Jung's psychology apart from humanistic and personalistic psychologies and secular depth psychologies such as those descended from Freud on the one side, and on the other side it also separates it from pre-Enlightenment dogmatic psychologies such as those belonging to religious fundamentalisms. This essay attempts to explore and to explicate the subtle space between purely secular and religious doctrines and to make the case that Jung's depth psychology represents a post-Enlightenment, post-secular, post-humanistic vision of the human as a material/spiritual being whose psyche links earth and heaven, the here and the beyond, the finite and the infinite. It is a radical attempt to break out of modernity without regressing to medievalism.     

Changes in defensiveness and in affective distress following inpatient treatment of eating disorders: Rorschach comprehensive system and self-report measures

Conceptualizing eating disorders (EDs) as forming a coping mechanism against facing psychic pain, in this study, we examined the contribution of weight stabilization and ED behaviors to psychological outcomes of affective distress, defensiveness, and contact with inner/external reality among 2 subgroups of adolescent inpatients with (a) "restricting type" anorexia (AN-R) and (b) bingeing/purging type EDs (B/P). We administered Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) and self-report measures at acute admission and on discharge. Data indicated that in both subgroups, stabilization of weight and disordered eating behaviors was accompanied by reduced explicit (self-reported) affective distress, yet by elevated implicit affective distress (D, SumShd). Subgroups' different Rorschach change trends indicated different dynamic processes in defensive style and contact with inner/external reality.     

In vitro reinforcement of hippocampal bursting: a search for Skinner's atoms of behavior.

A novel "in vitro reinforcement" paradigm was used to investigate Skinner's (1953) hypotheses (a) that operant behavior is made up of infinitesimal "response elements" or "behavioral atoms" and (b) that these very small units, and not whole responses, are the functional units of reinforcement. Our tests are based on the assumption that behavioral atoms may plausibly be represented at the neural level by individual cellular responses. As a first approach, we attempted to reinforce the bursting responses of hippocampal units in a highly reduced brain-slice preparation with local micropressure applications of behaviorally reinforcing dopaminergic drugs. The same injections were administered independently of bursting to provide a "noncontingent" control for nonspecific stimulation or facilitation of firing. It was found that the bursting responses of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may be progressively facilitated in a dose-related manner by response-contingent (but not noncontingent) injections of dopamine itself, the dopamine D1-preferring agonist SKF 82958, the D3-preferring agonist quinpirole, and the D2-like selective agonist (+)-4-propyl-9 hydroxynapthoxazine. These findings support the conclusion that unit bursting responses can be reinforced in vitro in hippocampal slices, and they further suggest that the same dopamine receptor subtypes are involved in both cellular and behavioral operant conditioning. The results thus provide indirect support for Skinner's atoms-of-behavior hypothesis.     

Micro-position effects in visual short term memory

Short-term memory for visually presented eight-digit numbers was tested in a forced recall, read-and-dial task. The digits were presented non-grouped or grouped in 2+2+2+2 or 2+3+3 digit formats. Spatial grouping enhanced memory performance and produced local discontinuities in the serial position curves related to grouping format. These micro-position effects are explained in terms of the relative spatial distinctiveness of individual digits.     

The power of a place: Opening the college classroom to people with serious mental illness

Presented the structure and implementation of a university-based practicum course on social relationships for people with serious mental illness and college undergraduates. Grounded in an ecological view of social settings, cooperative learning models of education and mutual help principles, the practicum was designed to create a collaborative classroom setting where undergraduates and people with serious mental illness could both develop and enhance their own interpersonal skills and social network ties. The practicum demonstrates how a university can use its resources to help address community needs while simultaneously enhancing its mission of teaching and research. The role of social context in creating collaborative relationships among participants and the use of the university as a community resource are discussed.