La compréhension d'un texte procédural: Un processus à profondeur variable

This study investigates the comprehension of a dosage according to the desired aim before reading. The results of the two experiments carried out indicate that only the cognitive activities underlying the performance of the instructions (versus comprehension/memorisation) require the transformation of the declarative representation into a procedural one. The inferences generated attest a result/procedure relation and a hierarchical organisation of the planification of actions brought into play. Moreover, information which is directly goal‐related receives more extensive treatment than other information.     

Reviews: Books Photography

RELATIONAL PSYCHOANALYSIS: THE EMERGENCE OF A TRADITION. Edited by Stephen A. Mitchell and Lewis Aron. 514 pp. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1999. $39.95. D.H. LAWRENCE AND THE PARADOXES OF PSYCHIC LIFE. By Barbara Ann Schapiro. 155 pp. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. $17.95. TECHNOLOGY AS MAGIC: THE TRIUMPH OF THE IRRATIONAL. By Richard Stivers. 240 pp. New York: Continuum Press. 1999. $24. REFLECTIONS ON A RAVAGED CENTURY. By Robert Conquest. 317 pp. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, $27.95. THE MYSTERIES WITHIN A SURGEON REFLECTS ON MEDICAL MYTHS. By Sherwin B. Nuland. 274 pp. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000, $24.00. DISEASE, PAIN, AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR. By Elisabeth Stenager and Egon Stenager. 127 pp. New York: The Haworth Medical Press, 1998. $17.95. TRAUMA ASSESSMENTS: A CLINICIAN'S GUIDE. By E. B. Carlson. 307 pp. New York: The Guilford Press, 1997. $30. ON INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD: AN ELEMENTARY TEXTBOOK. By David A. Freedman, M.D. 247 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc., 1999. $27.95. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. By Mitch Albom. 192 pp. New York: Doubleday, 1997. $21. THE SORROWS OF THE QUAKER JESUS; JAMES NAYLER AND THE PURITAN CRACKDOWN ON THE FREE SPIRIT. By Leo Damrosch. 322 pp. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, $39.95. THE PASTORAL CARE OF DEPRESSION: A GUIDEBOOK. By Binford W. Gilbert. 127 pp. New York: The Haworth Pastoral Press, 1998. $19.95. LEARNING DISABILITIES AND PSYCHIC CONFLICT: A PSYCHOANALYTIC CASEBOOK. By Arden Aibel Rothstein, Ph.D., and Jules Glenn, M.D. 504 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc., 1999. $78. HAUNTED CHILDREN: RETHINKING MEDICATION OF COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS. By Arthur F. Roemmelt, MD. 196 pp. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. $17.95. NAVIGATING THE DEEP RIVER: SPIRITUALITY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES. By Archie Smith, Jr. 181 pp. Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press, 1997. $15.95. AL-JUNUN: MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD. Edited by Ihsan Al-Issa. 382 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, 2000. $48. Witnessing the Lack of Sanctuary     

Reviews: Books and Films

INFINITE GRACE: WHEN THE WORDS OF SCIENCE AND SPIRITUAL HEALING MEET. By Diane Goldner. 346 pp. Hampton Roads, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 1999, $23.95. DEATH ANXIETY AND CLINICAL PRACTICE. By Robert Langs. 250 pp. London: Karnac Books, 1997. $33. THE FORCE OF CHARACTER AND THE LASTING LIFE. By James Hillman. 236 pp. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999. $14. THE DEAD MOTHER: THE WORK OF ANDRE GREEN. Edited by Gregorio Kohon. 228 pp. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. $. A DARWINIAN LEFT: POLITICS, EVOLUTION AND COOPERATION. By Peter Singer. 70 pp. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Hardback $. THE ECSTATIC IMAGINATION: PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCES AND THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION. By Dan Merkur. 226 pp. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. $19.95. THE UNKNOWN GOD: SEARCHING FOR SPIRITUAL FULFILLMENT. By Alister McGrath. 123 pp. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. $18.00. Films: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Girlfight; Gladiator; The Contender     

The Clown's Use of Empathy: An Interview with Bob Berky

Excerpts from an interview with Bob Berky reveal the clown's keen understanding of empathic attunement, what psychotherapists, pastoral counselors, and persons in pastoral care maintain is a vital correspondence toward authentic interpersonal presence. Berky discusses the use of silence and movement to free the individual with whom he invites to his stage from rigid personas and limiting preconceptions. He underscores the life-giving possibilities of the laugh of recognition—the realization that we share a kindred experience of being human, and can release our unique potentials toward creative connection and difference.     

Correlates of Mental Disorders in the Quebec General Population of 6 to 14-Year Olds

Previous epidemiological studies of correlates of child and adolescent mental disorders in the general population have focused more on child/adolescent and socioeconomic/sociodemographic characteristics than on family characteristics. Moreover, there are no generally accepted methods to analyze and interpret correlates. The purpose of the Quebec Child Mental Health Survey in this regard was twofold: (1) to identify correlates of DSM-III-R internalizing and externalizing disorders according to informant (youth, parent, teacher), for three age groups (6–8, 9–11, and 12–14 years), including relevant family characteristics not considered in previous studies; and (2) to interpret the relative importance of risk indicators by ranking correlates according to strength and consistency of association across age groups. Logistic regression models suggest the inconsistency of correlates across informants. The ranking of correlates reveals that individual and family characteristics make a more important contribution than do socioeconomic characteristics, thereby supporting the relevance of proximal variables in the development of psychopathology.     

Estimation of interhemispheric dynamics from simple unimanual reaction time to extrafoveal stimuli

This essay reviews research on interhemispheric transfer time derived from simple unimanual reaction time to hemitachistoscopically presented visual stimuli. Part 1 reviews major theoretical themes including (a) the significance of the eccentricity effect on interhemispheric transfer time in the context of proposed underlying neurohistological constraints; (b) the significance of gender differences in interhemispheric transfer time and findings in dyslexics and left-handers in the context of a fetal brain testosterone model; and (c) the significance of complexity effects on interhemispheric transfer time in a context of dynamic vs. hard-wired concepts of the underlying interhemispheric communication systems. Part 2 consists of a meta-analysis of 49 published behavioral experiments, in view of drawing a portrait of the best set of experimental conditions apt to produce salient, reliable, and statistically significant measures of interhemispheric transfer time, namely (a) index rather than thumb response, (b) low rather than high target luminance, (c) short rather than prolonged target display, and (d) very eccentric rather than near-foveal stimulus location. Part 3 proposes a theoretical model of interhemispheric transfer time, postulating the measurable existence of fast and slow interhemispheric channels. The proposed mechanism's evolutionary adaptive value, the neurophysiological evidence in its support, and favorable functional evidence from studies of callosotomized patients are then presented followed by proposals for critical experimental tests of the model.     

Atypical Hemispheric Specialization in Intellectual Deficiency

In order to determine the relation between hemispheric specialization for language and intellectual deficiency, two groups of lower-IQ subjects were compared to normal-IQ controls on word-dichotic listening tasks. Two conditions in which stimuli differed by their level of phonological complexity were used. Normal controls showed the expected right-ear advantage in both conditions. Moreover, they showed a greater magnitude of ear difference on the condition requiring higher-order phonological processing. In the mentally deficient group, almost half the subjects exhibited a left-ear advantage and they showed no difference between the two conditions in terms of the magnitude of ear difference. These results point to the presence of atypical hemispheric specialization in mentally deficient subjects.     

Illusory form with inducers of opposite contrast polarity: Evidence for multistage integration

The perception of brightness differences in Ehrenstein figures and of illusory contours in phaseshifted line gratings was investigated as a function of the contrast polarity of the inducing elements. We presented either continuous lines or line-like arrangements composed of aligned dashes or dots whose spacing was varied. Ayes/no procedure was used in which naive observers had to decide whether or not they perceived a brightness difference in a given Ehrenstein figure or an illusory contour in a phase-shifted line grating. The results show that brightness differences are perceived to some extent in Ehrenstein figures with inducers of opposite polarity of contrast; however, the percentage ofyes responses was systematically lower and response times were longer than for figures with inducers of the same polarity. Phase-shifted line gratings with lines of opposite polarity of contrast yielded stronger illusory contours and shorter response times than those with lines of the same polarity. When the sign of contrast was not the same within a given line of induction, neither differences in brightness nor illusory contours were perceived. The results suggest that the mechanisms that lead to apparent differences in brightness are more sensitive to input of the same contrast polarity, the mechanisms generating illusory contours more sensitive to input of opposite polarity. The data are discussed in the light of a multistage approach to illusory form perception and some implications for cortical models of illusory contour integration are discussed.