Introducing the concept of neurobiological foundation of Rorschach responses using the example of Oral Dependent Language

We introduce the concept of “neurobiological foundation” of Rorschach interpretations as an extension of the concept of behavioral representation as a foundation for interpretation of R‐PAS variables. Here, we propose that if there is a parallelism between the mental, verbal and perceptual behaviors occurring within the microcosm of the Rorschach task and those occurring in the external environment [behavioral foundation], then the same brain regions engaged by the test‐taker when producing of a given code, should be engaged also when reproducing, in the external environment, the same psychological processes underlying that specific Rorschach code [neurobiological foundation]. To investigate this concept, we used archival, fMRI data and tested whether producing Oral Dependency Language (ODL) responses would associate with increased activation in brain regions associated with dependency‐related, psychological processes. Results from a sample of 21 non‐clinical volunteers partially confirmed our hypothesis, providing some support to the neurobiological foundation of the ODL code.     

The role of money in the excitement of gambling

Many gamblers claim that gambling is intrinsically exciting, with money playing only a secondary role. To examine the effects of the expectancy of winning money, the authors randomly assigned 243 male college student gamblers to 1 of 6 experimental or 1 of 3 control conditions. Control participants either simply watched a videotaped horse race or they picked a horse, but without wagering; that horse later turned out to be either the winner of the race or the runner-up. Experimental participants wagered $1 on a horse for a chance of winning either USD 2, USD 7, or USD 15, with half winning and half losing their wagers. Wagering led to increased heart rates and subjective excitement as a function of the expected payoff and of winning as opposed to losing the wager. The study was replicated with 200 female college student gamblers with similar results. These findings support the notion that the excitement of gambling is tied to the expectancy of winning money.     

Gesture and metaphor comprehension: Electrophysiological evidence of cross-modal coordination by audiovisual stimulation

In recent years, studies have suggested that gestures influence comprehension of linguistic expressions, for example, eliciting an N400 component in response to a speech/gesture mismatch. In this paper, we investigate the role of gestural information in the understanding of metaphors. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants viewed video clips of an actor uttering metaphorical expressions and producing bodily gestures that were congruent or incongruent with the metaphorical meaning of such expressions. This modality of stimuli presentation allows a more ecological approach to meaning integration. When ERPs were calculated using gesture stroke as time-lock event, gesture incongruity with metaphorical expression modulated the amplitude of the N400 and of the late positive complex (LPC). This suggests that gestural and speech information are combined online to make sense of the interlocutor’s linguistic production in an early stage of metaphor comprehension. Our data favor the idea that meaning construction is globally integrative and highly context-sensitive.     

Academic and nonacademic community psychologists: An analysis of divergence in settings,roles, and values

Differences between academic and nonacademic psychologists may be viewed as immutable, worthy of encouragement, or as a situation which the latter group must remedy by becoming “more scientific.” We contend that for community psychology, which perceives theory, application, and action as valid aspects of its broad paradigm, it would be most adaptive toexplicitly address the challenge of managing a balance between diversity and cohesion. There are signs that the present leadership of Division 27 recognizes aspects of this problem and is reconsidering the role and purpose of the Division as an organizing framework for the discipline (Trickett, Note 3). It is our view that engendering a commitment from various subgroups within the membership to addressing the disparities revealed by our respondents is required for resolving what we see as major obstacles to future development of the discipline. The conceptual and empirical approach presented in this study can be an important tool in forging constructive solutions to the challenges we have presented.     

The hospice: Humane care for the dying

The hospice movement arose as a reaction to the dehumanizing atmosphere of acute-care hospitals, where excessive utilization of life support equipment deprived dying patients of a meaningful vision of their destiny. Respecting the spiritual quest of the terminally ill for wholeness and dignity, the hospice concept prescribes the rendering of compassionate and pastoral care by a benevolent community of family, health care staff, friends, and clergy. Approximately 800 hospice programs are currently evolving in the United States. St. Mary's (formerly “Hillhaven”) Hospice in Tucson, Arizona, offers the most comprehensive program of services, including home care, inpatient care, and artistic media through which the dying express their creativity. Numerous demonstration projects funded by several government agencies, principally the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), are expected to result in the legislative actions eliminating barriers to reimbursement of the cost of hospice services by Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party payers. Existential analysis reveals the value of religion and spiritual support in enabling the dying to banish anxiety and muster the hope requisite for fully appreciating the authentic meaning of their destiny.     

Learning to Coordinate; a Recursion Theoretic Perspective

We consider two players each of whom attempts to predict the behavior of the other, using no more than the history of earlier predictions. Behaviors are limited to a pair of options, conventionally denoted by 0, 1. Such players face the problem of learning to coordinate choices. The present paper formulates their situation recursion theoretically, and investigates the prospects for success. A pair of players build up a matrix with two rows and infinitely many columns, and are said to “learn” each other if cofinitely many of the columns show the same number in both rows (either 0 or 1). Among other results we prove that there are two collections of players that force all other players to choose their camp. Each collection is composed of players that learn everyone else in the same collection, but no player that learns all members of one collection learns any member of the other. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the algebraization of a Feferman's predicate

Summary This paper is devoted to the algebraization of an arithmetical predicate introduced by S. Feferman. To this purpose we investigate the equational class of Boolean algebras enriched with an operation , which translates such predicate, and an operation , which translates the usual predicate Theor. We deduce from the identities of this equational class some properties of and some ties between and ; among these properties, let us point out a fixed-point theorem for a sufficiently large class of - polynomials. The last part of this paper concerns the duality theory for - algebras.Allatum est die 24 Maii 1976     

The hospice: Humane care for the dying

The hospice movement arose as a reaction to the dehumanizing atmosphere of acute-care hospitals, where excessive utilization of life support equipment deprived dying patients of a meaningful vision of their destiny. Respecting the spiritual quest of the terminally ill for wholeness and dignity, the hospice concept prescribes the rendering of compassionate and pastoral care by a benevolent community of family, health care staff, friends, and clergy. Approximately 800 hospice programs are currently evolving in the United States. St. Mary's (formerly Hillhaven) Hospice in Tucson, Arizona, offers the most comprehensive program of services, including home care, inpatient care, and artistic media through which the dying express their creativity. Numerous demonstration projects funded by several government agencies, principally the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), are expected to result in legislative actions eliminating barriers to reimbursement of the cost of hospice services by Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party payers. Existential analysis reveals the value of religion and spiritual support in enabling the dying to banish anxiety and muster the hope requisite for fully appreciating the authentic meaning of their destiny.     

Will you still hire me when I am over 50? The effects of implicit and explicit age stereotyping on resume evaluations

Multiple studies have found that older workers may be disadvantaged in their job search due to explicit age stereotypes. However, no published research has examined the effect of both explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) negative age stereotypes against older workers on hiring decisions. The current study fills this gap by using an experimental design to simultaneously examine how both explicit and implicit age stereotypes affect the evaluation of resumes for older and younger job applicants. Participants completed measures of explicit age stereotypes via a questionnaire and implicit age stereotypes with an Implicit Association Test focused on older and younger working-age people. They then completed a resume screening task that included younger and older potential applicants. Results showed that participants’ explicit age stereotypes positively influenced the evaluation of younger applicants’ resumes but had no significant effect on the evaluation of older applicants’ resumes. Conversely, implicit age stereotypes had a negative effect on the evaluation of older applicants’ resumes but had no significant effect on the evaluation of younger applicants’ resumes. The results suggest that both implicit and explicit age stereotypes may harm older job applicants’ hireablity, but through different pathways.     

Partially Undetermined Many-Valued Events and Their Conditional Probability

A logic for classical conditional events was investigated by Dubois and Prade. In their approach, the truth value of a conditional event may be undetermined. In this paper we extend the treatment to many-valued events. Then we support the thesis that probability over partially undetermined events is a conditional probability, and we interpret it in terms of bets in the style of de Finetti. Finally, we show that the whole investigation can be carried out in a logical and algebraic setting, and we find a logical characterization of coherence for assessments of partially undetermined events.