Visually guided step descent in children with Williams syndrome

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have impairments in visuospatial tasks and in manual visuomotor control, consistent with parietal and cerebellar abnormalities. Here we examined whether individuals with WS also have difficulties in visually controlling whole-body movements. We investigated visual control of stepping down at a change of level in children with WS (5-16-year-olds), who descended a single step while their movement was kinematically recorded. On each trial step height was set unpredictably, so that visual information was necessary to perceive the step depth and position the legs appropriately before landing. Kinematic measures established that children with WS did not use visual information to slow the leg at an appropriate point during the step. This pattern contrasts with that observed in typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children, implying severe impairment in whole-body visuomotor control in WS. For children with WS, performance was not significantly predicted by low-level visual or balance problems, but improved significantly with verbal age. The results suggest some plasticity and development in WS whole-body control. These data clearly show that visuospatial and visuomotor deficits in WS extend to the locomotor domain. Taken together with evidence for parietal and cerebellar abnormalities in WS, these results also provide new evidence for the role of these circuits in the visual control of whole-body movement.     

Inside-out: comparing internally generated and externally generated basic emotions

A considerable number of mood induction (MI) procedures have been developed to elicit emotion in normal and clinical populations. Although external procedures (e.g., film clips, pictures) are widely used, a number of experiments elicit emotion by using self-generated procedures (e.g., recalling an emotional personal episode). However, no study has directly compared the effectiveness of two types of internal versus external MI across multiple discrete emotions. In the present experiment, 40 undergraduate students watched film clips (external procedure) and recalled personal events (internal procedure) inducing 4 basic emotions (fear, anger, joy, sadness) and later completed a self-report questionnaire. Remarkably, both internal and external procedures elicited target emotions selectively, compared with nontarget emotions. When contrasting the intensity of target emotions, both techniques showed no significant differences, with the exception of Joy, which was more intensely elicited by the internal procedure. Importantly, when considering the overall level of intensity, it was always greater in the internal procedure, for each stimulus. A more detailed investigation of the data suggest that recalling personal events (a type of internal procedure) generates more negative and mixed blends of emotions, which might account for the overall higher intensity of the internal mood induction.     

Estimating discrimination performance in two-alternative forced choice tasks: Routines for MATLAB and R

Ulrich and Vorberg (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 71: 1219–1227, 2009) introduced a novel approach for estimating discrimination performance in two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) tasks. This approach avoids pitfalls that are inherent when the order of the standard and the comparison is neglected in estimating the difference limen (DL), as in traditional approaches. The present article provides MATLAB and R routines that implement this novel procedure for estimating DLs. These routines also allow to account for processing failures such as lapses or finger errors and can be applied to experimental designs in which the standard and comparison differ only along the task-relevant dimension, as well as to designs in which the stimuli differ in more than one dimension. In addition, Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to check the quality of our routines.     

R?ume der Gewalt

Violence is everywhere, just as love and the need for sexual satisfaction are omnipresent, nowadays just as it was 1,000 years ago. However, one is taken for granted as a part of fundamental human behavior and needs no explanation, while violence is considered an anomaly which should disappear from our lives. People who live in peace are irritated when they hear of massacres and violent acts which do not occur in their world. They cannot believe that people kill, abuse and sexually assault each other for no apparent reason and that some actually gain pleasure from this. Then the belief that violence is abnormal behavior under any circumstances helps them to imagine its reality as a space in which argumentation triumphs over fists. Humans, however, will not be what they are: they have always been complete. Violence is a human capability: that was always so and everywhere. It is a resource for action which is not only available for everybody but can also be used by everyone. Even the smallest can achieve an increase in power and gain respect by the use of the fists. The source of violence lies in the fundamentals of the powers of imagination. All atrocities can be imagined and what has once become engraved in the memory can never be removed. When one has understood what violence does to man and what man does with violence, it can no longer only be comprehended as an expression of ideas, intentions and programs, as a deviation which can be redressed by moral persuasion but as a consequence of an unlocking of safety measures which protect people from killing and injuring each other. Even in the future violence will be part of our lives. The belief in the healing powers of civilization is nothing more than romantic idealism. It always concerns only situations and people. Undoubtedly a depressing outlook but when one has comprehended that violence is an integral part of life, measures can also be taken to enclose it. Violence is an experience which creates order because death means the end of everything. For dreamers who crave eternal peace, this recognition is depressing but for realists it is a comfort.     

Zur Validit?t des Prognoseinstruments ?Rückfallrisiko bei Sexualstraft?tern“

The Risk for Recidivism in Sexual Offenders (RRS) procedure is an actuarial risk assessment tool designed to predict recidivism in sexual offenders released from prison. So far it is the only tool developed with a German sample and uses a combination of 11 static and dynamic risk markers. The goal of the current study was to test the predictive validity of the 3 RRS prognostic scores in a sample of 104 sexual offenders whose prison files and recidivism data were analysed after a mean period of 8 years after release from a German prison. The H-score of the RRS developed to assess the probability of reimprisonment showed moderate to good predictive power in relation to any new convictions, new convictions leading to a prison term and new convictions for an aggressive or sexual criminal offence. As expected it was not able to predict sexual recidivism which had a base rate of 8.7% in this sample. The S-score and the K-score of the RRS developed to predict this criterion, performed hardly better in this task. These scores showed moderate to good predictive validity only in the small subsample of extrafamilial sexual offenders.     

Trial-by-trial updating of an internal reference in discrimination tasks: Evidence from effects of stimulus order and trial sequence

In psychophysics, participants are often asked to discriminate between a constant standard and a variable comparison. Previous studies have shown that discrimination performance is better when the comparison follows, rather than precedes, the standard. Prominent difference models of psychophysics and decision making cannot easily explain this order effect. However, a simple extension of this model class involving dynamical updating of an internal reference accounts for this order effect. In addition, this Internal Reference Model (IRM) predicts sequential response effects. We examined the predictions of IRM in two duration discrimination experiments. The obtained results are in agreement with the predictions of IRM, suggesting that participants update their internal reference on every trial. Additional simulations show that IRM also accounts for the negative sequential effects observed in single-stimulus paradigms.     

The Analysis of Preconscious Phenomena and Its Communication

Thoughts and feelings of both patients and analysis may be influenced by perceptions that remain outside of conscious awareness. A preconscious communication exists between patient and analyst. Appreciation of the preconscious elements of communication may enable a better understanding of what may be otherwise experienced as a mysterious occurrence. Transference-countertransference interactions create a place to observe the manifestation of preconscious phenomena. This paper addresses how the analytic method enables the discovery of consciously unrecognized stimuli or selective attention to certain phenomena which have created a sense of the uncanny or surprising. Both intersubjective reflection and more formal, systematic methods, which include logic and reasoning, serve to illuminate these events. The paper discusses and illustrates the role of preconscious communication in the analytic situation and its relation to the analytic process.     

A Specific Developmental Deficit in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: The Example of the Wolf Man

In this paper I suggest that the origins of the “contamination/cleaning” form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) include a developmental history characterized by marked overprotectiveness allied with parental failure to respond to core aspects of the child's personal reality. The combined effect of these parental behaviors is likely to impede the establishment of a mature conception of the boundary between inner and outer worlds. The consequence of such a deficiency is the persistence of the magical form of thinking which is essential to the production of OCD. In addition, the individual is left with a disruption of personality development, the main features of which include timidity and falseness. The Wolf Man provides an example of both the characteristic development history in OCD and its consequences. Treatment based on this theoretical background may provide benefit not predicted by current psychoanalytic pessimism.