Assessing secure base behavior in adulthood: development of a measure,links to adult attachment representations,and relations to couples' communication and reports of relationships

A focus on the secure base phenomenon creates a framework for exploring the function of the attachment system in adulthood. Engaged couples (N = 157) were videotaped in a problem-solving interaction and assessed using the Secure Base Scoring System (SBSS), a system based on Ainsworth's analyses of infant-parent secure base use and support. Study 1 showed behavior was significantly related to representations assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview (M. Main & R. Goldwyn, 1994). In Study 2, the interactions were independently scored with the Rapid Marital Interaction Coding System (RMICS; R. E. Heyman & D. Vivian, 1993), a communication-based system. The SBSS predicted relationship variables beyond the RMICS, especially for women. Results indicate that the secure base phenomenon provides a cogent perspective on adult attachment behavior.     

Strategy planning in cats (Felis catus) in a progressive elimination task

Domestic cats (Felis cans) were administered a progressive elimination task in which they had to visit and deplete 3 baited sites. Cats were brought back to the starting point after each visit to any site whether the visit represented a correct or an incorrect choice. The results revealed that cats organized search as a function of the least distance principle whether they had to assess starting point to target distances (Experiment 1, n = 12) or adjacent bowl distances (Experiment 2, n = 12). The results also revealed that the starting point to target distance factor was the most influential in determining the initial choice (Experiment 3, n = 6) and in producing errors. Errors were also linked to the antero-posterior bodily axis of the cat. Results are discussed in terms of the predatory behavior of the cat.     

Neural substrates of impaired categorical perception of phonemes in adult dyslexics: an fMRI study

Phonological developmental dyslexics remain impaired in phonetic categorical perception (CP) even in adulthood. We studied the brain correlates of CP in dyslexics and controls using a block design fMRI protocol and stimuli from an phonetic continuum between natural /Pa/ and /Ta/ syllables. Subjects performed a pseudo-passive listening task which does not imply voluntary categorical judgment. In the control group, categorical deviant stimuli elicited specific activations in the left angular gyrus, the right inferior frontal gyrus and the right superior cingulate cortex. These regions were not activated in the dyslexic group in which activation was observed for acoustic but not phonetic changes in stimuli. Failures to activate key regions for language perception and auditory attention in dyslexic might account for persistent deficits in phonological awareness and reading tasks.     

La technique et le langage

Sans résumé     

Aktueller Stand der Gruppenpsychotherapieforschung

In view of an increasing importance of group therapies and the intention in healthcare politics to support group treatment, it seems appropriate to provide a review of the current research efforts in this field. In this review, several research traditions are described with a clear focus on the effectiveness of group treatment. Both systematic narrative reviews and recent meta-analyses clearly demonstrate that group treatment of various disorders is equally as effective as individual psychotherapy. Besides outcome research there are other developments in the field, such as the improvement of manualized and focused group therapies even outside cognitive behavioral concepts. Studies related to feedback in groups, specific patient characteristics (especially alexithymia and attachment) as well as the construction of new measures seem to be characteristic for group research during recent years. There is still a need for research related to group dynamics and process aspects of small groups as well as the group leaders and their behavior. In total, research on group psychotherapy has clearly progressed, which justifies the support of this treatment setting.     

A shared-memory approach to microprocessor program development

We have developed hardware and software interfaces with which part of a minicomputer’s memory can be shared among its own programs and an Intel 8080 system. Although access to this shared memory is too slow for most real-time operations, the shared area is an excellent buffer for program code to be copied to faster memory for eventual real-time execution. The shared memory can also be used to pass test data between the processors to automate the testing of 8080 program modules.     

Increasing convergence between imagined and executed movement across development: evidence for the emergence of movement representations

Motor imagery (MI) has become a principal focus of interest in studies on brain and behavior. However, changes in MI across development have received virtually no attention so far. In the present study, children (N = 112, 6 to 16 years old) performed a new, computerized Virtual Radial Fitts Task (VRFT) to determine their MI ability as well as the age‐related confluence between performance in executed and imagined movement conditions. Participants aimed at five targets, which were positioned along radial axes from a central target circle. The targets differed in width (2.5, 5, 10, 20 or 40 mm), resulting in an index of difficulty (ID) that varied from 6.9 to 2.9 bits. Performance was indexed by the linear relationship between ID and Movement Time (MT). The findings showed that executed task performance was slower than imagined performance. Moreover, conformance to Fitts’ Law during executed movement performance was obtained from a very young age. Most importantly, correlations between imagined and executed movements were low in the young participants but gradually increased across age. These age‐related changes in MI are hypothesized to reflect the children's emerging ability to represent internal models for prospective actions, consistent with the gradual unfolding of feedforward control processes.     

Toward the use of approach/avoidance tendencies as attitude measures: Individual- and group-level variability of the ingroup bias

Approach/avoidance paradigms could constitute an interesting alternative in measuring intergroup attitudes, notably if they overcome one criticism often addressed toward classic indirect tasks: Measuring attitudes beyond the influence of cultural knowledge. Using intergroup stimuli and a population likely to be exposed to a similar cultural knowledge, we observed two informative results regarding this issue: Approach/avoidance effects measured by the Visual Approach/Avoidance by the Self Task (VAAST) varied across participants (i.e., consistent with the variability of intergroup attitudes; Experiment 1) and both participants of dominant and non-dominant groups produced an ingroup bias (Experiment 2). A last experiment (Experiment 3) showed that compatibility scores in the VAAST predict trustworthiness ratings of the ingroup/outgroup. This experiment also investigated potential differences between the VAAST and the IAT. These results suggest that approach/avoidance tasks (notably the VAAST) could be relevant to assess personal attitudes when it comes to normatively sensitive topics.