Consumer product evaluation based on tactile sensory information

• This paper presents the results of an experiment in which consumers were asked to examine visually and touch samples of fabric. The participants were either given or not given verbal information relevant to the product category, and provided answers to the dependent variables immediately or after a 4‐minute delay. The results showed that memory, confidence in memory, and confidence in product evaluation were positively influenced by the availability of verbal information and therefore support the proposition that relevant verbal information can improve the encoding, retention, and retrieval of consumer experiences that include sensory information and lead to preferences that are better defined.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Developmental Trajectory from Amodal Perception to Empathy and Communication: The Role of Mirror Neurons in This Process

In a recent paper entitled “Mirror Neurons. Procedural Learning and the Positive New Experience” (Wolf et al., 2000), data were presented about a special type of neuron, the mirror neuron, originally located by Rizzolatti and his colleagues (1995). These neurons were discussed as they related to a particular developmental view of psychoanalysis, developmental systems self psychology (Shane, Shane, and Gales. 1997).

In this paper, we focus on how this mirror neuron system might contribute to the development of communicative abilities in humans. First we summarize the research findings about mirror neurons and how they apply to humans. We then attempt to demonstrate how the mirror neuron system might be involved in a developmental sequence hypothesized by Kohut (1984), Stern (1985), and others to begin in infancy. We postulate that this trajectory starts with the onset of “amodal perception” (Stern, 1985) and then proceeds to affect resonance, joint attention, and ultimately to symbolization of language. In this paper, we attempt to integrate these concepts with a formulation of empathy and demonstrate what might go awry in developmental disorders when the normative sequence of development described above does not take place.     

Psychoanalysis Unbound: A Contextual Consideration of Boundaries From a Developmental Systems Self Psychology Perspective

Each individual analyst has a unique way of evolving and developing over the years, in theory and in style of working with analysands. Different environmental conditions as well as one's personal inner life are significant influences. My analytic journey started in 1950 in Los Angeles and the turmoil of the psychoanalytic institutes had a significant impact on me. Often difficulties in the institutes were said to be about theory and ideas in psychoanalysis, but power issues were always present. The American Psychoanalytic Association was also involved in these matters with their attitude on “correct” theory. This paper discusses the interplay of these events and other aspects of my own evolution—from ego to self.     

Children's temporal judgments for autobiographical past and future events

We compared the performance of twenty 5-7-year-olds on two spatial-temporal judgment tasks. In a semantic task, children located temporal distances from today that were described using conventional, temporal terms on a spatial timeline. In an autobiographical task, children judged temporal distances on the same spatial timeline for events that they had experienced, or were going to experience, presented without explicit temporal references. Six-year-olds were equally accurate in judging temporal distances in the semantic and autobiographical tasks, but 7-year-olds were more accurate in the semantic task. Older children were more accurate than younger children in the semantic task, but no significant age differences were found for autobiographical events. Surprisingly, children were equally accurate in locating past and future events in time. Children at both ages were more accurate judging temporal distances up to one week away (both past and future) as compared to distances of two to four weeks across both tasks. Results suggest that knowledge of recurring time patterns and conventional time measurement systems is necessary, but not sufficient, for locating autobiographical events in time, and temporal distance plays an important role in children's temporal judgments.