Family tree matters

The present paper investigates the form and structure of the psychoanalytic 'family tree', concentrating on the analysands of Sándor Ferenczi and Otto Rank, and their impact on contemporary psychoanalysis.     

Interpreting the WISC-R subtest scores of reading impaired children—a structural approach

The problem of characterising more specifically the cognitive requirements involved in subtests from standardised measures of intelligence represents a main problem in the research on exceptional populations. A new way of classifying tests of mental abilities is presented. Rather than focusing on the content of a given test, the present classification system focuses on their structures. The classification system is applied to the WISC-R (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised, Wechsler, 1974). It will be used to interpret the IQ-profiles of a clinically defined sample of reading impaired children (N=82). The basic finding of the study is that the structural complexity of a subtest influences the tests results of reading impaired children. This influence is interpreted as a consequence of poor procedural knowledge; i.e., poor knowledge about how to organise complex sets of data. It is suggested that teaching of metacognitive strategies could be an aid for reading impaired children.     

Effects of false heart rate feedback and task instructions on information search,attributions, and stimulus ratings

Summary Predictions derived from an information seeking, attribution model of false autonomic feedback were tested in an experiment using a 3 × 3 design. Male students (n = 61) viewed aversive slides accompanied by either increasing, constant, or no heart sounds. They were instructed either to attend to slides and sounds labelled extraneous, or to slides and sounds labelled as their own heart beats, or to try to explain their fictitious heart beats through slide features (attribution condition). Increase and constant feedback instigated equally intense information search (measured through self-determined viewing time and heart-rate deceleration) but increased feedback did not direct the search (measured through viewing time distribution and recall) more towards negative or less towards neutral features than did constant feedback. Increased feedback enhanced rated slide unpleasantness in the attention and attribution conditions whereas constant feedback decreased unpleasantness in the attribution condition only. Correlations were consistent with the hypothesis that attributions of fictitious autonomic reactions, but not information search and actual heart rate, mediate feedback effects on stimulus valences.The author would like to thank Paul Wagemann, who ran part of the subjects, Alfred Holl, who helped to cope with equipment problems, and Günter Eisenhut, who assisted in data reduction and analysis.     

Untersuchungen und Überlegungen zur Richtungswahrnehmung bei willkürlichen sakkadischen Augenbewegungen

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit hatte das Ziel, die Umstimmung der retinalen Raumwerte während willkürlicher horizontaler Blicksprünge (Sakkaden) zu untersuchen.Die Methodik bestand darin, während oder nach der Augenbewegung kurzzeitig einen ca. 1° großen Lichtreiz (Elektronenblitz) im Gesichtsfeld der Vp zu exponieren, den diese in bezug auf eine kopffeste Skala zu lokalisieren hatte. Die Auslösung des Lichtreizes erfolgte auf elektrookulographischem Weg durch die Augenbewegung selbst.Bei diesen Versuchen traten in systematischer Abhängigkeit vom retinalen Ort des Reizes und von der zwischen Sakkadenbeginn und Reizexposition verstrichenen Zeit deutliche Verlagerungstäuschungen auf. Sie lassen sich am besten interpretieren, wenn man die Umwertungsprozesse als Wanderung eines lokalisatorischen Bezugssystems über ein zentralnervöses Projektionsfeld der Retina auffaßt. Diese Wanderung wird eingeleitet und angeführt durch ein rasches Einschwingen der Koordinate des Zielpunktes der Blickbewegung in die Fovea; in der zielabgekehrten Netzhauptperipherie vollzieht sich die Umwertung wesentlich langsamer. Dabei kann es vorübergehend zu topologischen Veränderungen des Bezugssystems kommen, deren Genese noch unklar ist.Ausgehend von den bislang vorliegenden Ansätzen zur Erklärung der Richtungskonstanz (insbesondere vom Reafferenzprinzip, den Aufmerksamkeitstheorien und der Theorie MacKays) wird ein eigenes Modell entwickelt, in dessen Rahmen die Versuchsergebnisse diskutiert werden.

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Investigations and considerations of directional perception during voluntary saccadic eye movements

Summary This investigation attempts to examine the change of retinal local signs during voluntary horizontal saccadic eye movements. The method used was to expose the S. to a short light stimulus (electronic flash) of approximately one degree angular width during or after a 16 degree eye movement. The stimulus was released by the eye movement itself via the retino-corneal potential. The S.'s task was to localize the stimulus on a fixed luminous scale.Clear translatory illusions occurred in these experiments. They depended systematically on the spot on the retina stimulated, and on the time elapsed between the onset of the saccade and the release of the stimulus. These illusions are best interpreted as due to the shift of a coordinate system across the retinal field. The shift is initiated by the coordinate of the retinal spot on which the target of the eye movement was projected before the saccade began. This coordinate rapidly swings into the fovea. The processes on the retinal hemisphere opposite to the target occur at a much slower rate. Moreover, temporary changes of the topology of the coordinate system may take place during the saccade. Their origin is still unclear.The results of the experiments are discussed in terms of a special model based on the previous explanations of the phenomenon of directional constancy (especially the reafference principle, the attention theories, and MacKays theory).

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Diese Arbeit wurde mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft ausgeführt. Wir danken unseren Versuchspersonen für ihre ausdauernde Mitarbeit sowie Frau Dipl.-Psych. Doris Bischof, Herrn Peter Heinecke und Frau Dr. Maria V. Schaetz für ihre Hilfe bei der Durchführung und Auswertung der Versuche.     

Conditioning,sensations, and the ergotropic-trophotropic balance

Analysis of Pschonik’s work on conditioning and sensation, in the light of Gellhorn’s studies on the tuning of the central nervous system through changes in the ergotropic-trophotropic balance, leads to the following results. Vasomotor and sensory reactions (VSR) induced by stimulation of cutaneous warmth and pain receptors (US), or by the conditional stimulus (CS) reinforced by the US, show parallel changes in a variety of circumstances: 1) anesthesia of the skin abolishes the effect of the US but not that of the CS; 2) various procedures lead to a reversal of VSR in the conditioned state in response to the US; 3) in a near-neurotic state VSR may be abolished while the plethysmogram gives evidence that ergotropic and trophotropic discharges occur at the same time. Changes in the ergotropic-trophotropic balance at the hypothalamic level alter VSR quantitatively and qualitatively. In an ergotropicallytuned state not only ergotropically-acting stimuli, but also trophotropically-acting stimuli lead to vasoconstriction and pain. Thus, stimulation of pain receptors, as well as stimulation of warmth receptors, produces vasoconstriction and pain. Similarly, these stimuli effect vasodilatation and warmth in the trophotropically-tuned state. It is concluded that the ergotropic-trophotropic balance has a profound influence on sensations and perceptions. It is of clinical significance that this balance can be altered through a conditional reflex mechanism,i.e., on the basis of individual experience.     

The role of analogy in transfer between similar problem states

The study investigated the effect of transfer between two problems having similar (homomorphic) problem states. The results of three experiments revealed that although transfer occurred between repetition of the same problems, transfer occurred between the Jealous Husbands problem and the Missionary—Cannibal problem only when (a) Ss were told the relationship between the two problems and (b) the Jealous Husbands problem was given first. The results are related to the formal structure of the problem space and to alternative explanations of the use of analogy in problem solving. These include memory for individual moves, memory for general strategies, and practice in applying operators.     

Functional neuroimaging of autistic disorders

Functional neuroimaging methods hold promise for elucidating the neurobiology of autistic disorders, yet they present difficult practical and scientific challenges when applied to these complex and heterogeneous syndromes. Single-state studies of brain metabolism and blood flow thus far have failed to yield consistent findings, but suggest considerable variability in regional patterns of cerebral synaptic activity. Patients with idiopathic autism are less likely to show abnormalities than are patients with comorbid illness or epilepsy. Activation studies have begun to suggest alterations in brain organization for language and cognition. Neurotransmitter studies using positron emission tomography (PET) suggest abnormalities of serotonergic and dopaminergic function. Studies using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) have begun to document metabolic deficits in the frontal cortex and cerebellum. A single study using magnetoencephalography suggests a high incidence of epileptiform activity in children with autistic regression. Research needs include well-controlled developmental studies, particularly of young subjects and relatively homogeneous subgroups, which balance scientific rigor with ethical constraints. Investigations of the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems, limbic-based memory and emotional systems, and the role of epileptiform activity in autism represent priorities for future research.