Temperament and migration patterns in Finland

Migration is a central determinant of population dynamics and structure. We examined whether three major temperament traits--sociability, emotionality, and activity--predicted migration propensity, selective urban-rural migration, and migration distance in a 9-year prospective study in Finland. The participants were Finnish women and men (N= 1,733) ages 15 to 30 years at baseline. The home municipality's position on the urban-rural continuum was assessed on the basis of the municipality's population density. We found that high sociability predicted migration to urban areas and longer migration distances. High activity increased general migration propensity (including migration to both urban and rural areas). High emotionality increased the likelihood of leaving the home municipality and decreased migration distances, but was not associated with selective urban-rural migration. These data suggest that temperament predicts the self-selection of environments on a demographic scale and may be relevant in understanding population dynamics.     

The Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ): factorial structure, relations to global subjective memory ratings, and Swedish norms

The factorial structure of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ; Smith et al., 2000) was examined in a Swedish population based sample (N= 540, age range; 35-90 years). Concurrent validity was assessed by relating PRMQ to global ratings of memory. Confirmatory factor analyses of the PRMQ items indicated a superior fit of a three-factor model, with prospective and retrospective memory as orthogonal factors and episodic memory as a common factor. Furthermore, the PRMQ scales correlated with the global ratings of memory, suggesting that each rating contributed with unique variance in predicting PRMQ scores. Given differences in levels of complaints as compared with prior research (Crawford et al., 2003) norms for the Swedish version are provided. In conclusion, the present findings extend earlier work by providing additional support for the construct and concurrent validity of the PRMQ scales.     

Does war beget child aggression? Military violence,gender, age and aggressive behavior in two Palestinian samples

We examined, first, the relations between children's exposure to military violence and their aggressive behavior and the role of age and gender in that relation in two Palestinian samples. Second, we tested parenting practices as a moderator of the relation between exposure to military violence and aggressive behavior, and third, whether exposure to military violence of different nature (direct victimization versus witnessing) has specific associations with different forms of aggression (reactive, proactive and aggression-enjoyment). Study I was conducted in a relatively calm military-political atmosphere in Palestine-Gaza, and included 640 children, aged 6-16 years whose parents (N=622) and teachers (N=457) provided reports. Older children (> or =12 years) provided self-reports (N=211). Study II included 225 Palestinian children aged 10-14-year, who participated during a high-violence period of the Al Aqsa Intifada characterized by air raids, killing and destruction. Results showed that witnessing severe military violence was associated with children's aggressive and antisocial behavior (parent-reported) in study I, and with proactive, reactive and aggression-enjoyment (child-reported) in the study II. As hypothesized, good and supporting parenting practices could moderate the link between exposure to military violence and aggressive behavior. Aggr.     

The cost of question concealment: eye-tracking and MEG evidence

Although natural language appears to be largely compositional, the meanings of certain expressions cannot be straightforwardly recovered from the meanings of their parts. This study examined the online processing of one such class of expressions: concealed questions, in which the meaning of a complex noun phrase (the proof of the theorem) shifts to a covert question (what the proof of the theorem is) when mandated by a sub-class of question-selecting verbs (e.g., guess). Previous behavioral and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) studies have reported a cost associated with converting an entity denotation to an event. Our study tested whether both types of meaning-shift affect the same computational resources by examining the effects elicited by concealed questions in eye-tracking and MEG. Experiment 1 found evidence from eye-movements that verbs requiring the concealed question interpretation require more processing time than verbs that do not support a shift in meaning. Experiment 2 localized the cost of the concealed question interpretation in the left posterior temporal region, an area distinct from that affected by complement coercion. Experiment 3 presented the critical verbs in isolation and found no posterior temporal effect, confirming that the effect of Experiment 2 reflected sentential, and not lexical-level, processing.     

Parallel processing of objects in a naming task

The authors investigated whether speakers who named several objects processed them sequentially or in parallel. Speakers named object triplets, arranged in a triangle, in the order left, right, and bottom object. The left object was easy or difficult to identify and name. During the saccade from the left to the right object, the right object shown at trial onset (the interloper) was replaced by a new object (the target), which the speakers named. Interloper and target were identical or unrelated objects, or they were conceptually unrelated objects with the same name (e.g., bat [animal] and [baseball] bat). The mean duration of the gazes to the target was shorter when interloper and target were identical or had the same name than when they were unrelated. The facilitatory effects of identical and homophonous interlopers were significantly larger when the left object was easy to process than when it was difficult to process. This interaction demonstrates that the speakers processed the left and right objects in parallel.     

Semantic processing of previews within compound words

Previous studies have suggested that previews of words prior to fixation can be processed orthographically, but not semantically, during reading of sentences (K. Rayner, D. A. Balota, & A. Pollatsek, 1986). The present study tested whether semantic processing of previews can occur within words. The preview of the second constituent of 2-constituent Finnish compound nouns was manipulated. The previews were either identical to the 2nd constituent or they were incorrect in the form of a semantically related word, a semantically unrelated word, or a semantically meaningless nonword. The results indicate that previews of 2nd constituents within compound words can be semantically processed. The results have important implications for understanding the nature of preview and compound word processing. These issues are crucial to developing comprehensive models of eye-movement control and word recognition during reading.     

NONEMPIRICAL REALITY: TRANSCENDING THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL IN THE ORDER OF THE ONE

I describe characteristic phenomena of quantum physics that suggest that reality appears to us in two domains: the open and well‐known domain of empirical, material things—the realm of actuality—and a hidden and invisible domain of nonempirical, non‐material forms—the realm of potentiality. The nonempirical forms are part of physical reality because they contain the empirical possibilities of the universe and can manifest themselves in the empirical world. Two classes of nonempirical states are discussed: the superposition states of microphysical entities, which are nonempirical because observation destroys them, and the virtual states of material systems, which are nonempirical because they are empty. The non‐empirical part to physical reality represents a predetermined and hidden order that exists before it is empirical, and the visible world is an emanation out of it. I discuss consequences for our understanding of human nature, the origin of life, and human values. Reality is an indivisible wholeness that is aware of its processes, like a Cosmic Spirit, and it reveals its awareness in the mindlike properties of elementary processes as well as in the human consciousness. Thus, one is led to G. W. F. Hegel's thesis that the Cosmic Spirit is thinking in us.     

Adult age differences in event-based prospective memory: a meta-analysis on the role of focal versus nonfocal cues

Studies of age differences in event-based prospective memory indicate wide variation in the magnitude of age effects. One explanation derived from the multiprocess framework proposes that age differences depend on whether the cue to carry out a prospective intention is focal to ongoing task processing. A meta-analysis of 117 effect sizes from 4,709 participants provided evidence for this view, as age effects were greater when the prospective cue to the ongoing task was nonfocal compared with when it was focal. However, the results only support a weaker but not a stronger prediction of the multiprocess framework, as age impairments were reliably above zero for both types of retrieval cues.     

Ambulante psychotherapeutische Versorgung depressiver Patienten

Background

The effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions in treating depressive disorders has been shown in manifold ways. However, information is missing from the point of view of psychotherapists concerning diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, their experienced difficulties and barriers, their self-assessment of their competence in the handling of depressive patients and the satisfaction with the cooperation in routine care.

Method

A cross-sectional survey of cognitive-behavioral (n=61) and psychodynamic psychotherapists (n=78) was carried out.

Results

The concordance of clinical diagnoses with diagnoses using the formal ICD-10 criteria was very low. Both groups feel themselves specifically responsible for early detection and differential diagnosis. They neither differ with regard to the frequency of cooperation contacts to other service providers nor with regard to their satisfaction with them or the experienced barriers in the care for depressed patients.

Conclusion

A good psychotherapeutic care exists with options for improvement concerning diagnostic procedures and a stronger connection network.