Co-occurrence of non-suicidal self-injury and impulsivity in extreme weight conditions

The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in different eating disorder (ED) groups and morbid obesity, and to investigate whether NSSI in different ED/obesity groups co-occur with impulsivity. We assessed 535 individuals (365 ED and 170 obese patients) by means of a single item assessing lifetime NSSI and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, which measures different dimensions of impulsivity. The results showed that 19.1% of the ED patients engaged in at least one act of NSSI during their life-time. NSSI was more prevalent in Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified compared to Anorexia Nervosa, Restrictive type and morbid obesity. Finally, ED/obese patients who engaged in NSSI scored significantly higher on the attentional, motor and non-planning subscales than patients without NSSI. The implications of these findings for the treatment of NSSI in binge/purging ED patients are discussed.     

Within-individual variability in self-concepts and personality states: Applying density distribution and situation-behavior approaches across cultures

Within-individual variability in self-concepts and everyday personality states and affects was investigated in two experience sampling studies using density distribution and situation-behavior approaches. In all seven cultures sampled, within-individual variability was substantial and self-concept and personality state variability exhibited moderate convergence. Variability in personality and affect states was moderately predicted by perceived need satisfaction in the situations. The density distribution and situation-behavior approaches were moderately convergent in identifying the most variable individuals, but the pattern of cultural differences differed in the two methods. Contrary to cultural psychology perspectives, cultural differences in within-individual variability did not consistently correspond to cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or tightness.     

Visual dreams in the congenitally blind?

An EEG study of sleep in congenitally blind persons revealed a significant correlation between the visual activity reported during dreaming and the decrease of alpha strength recorded from the central and occipital regions of the scalp. This provides the first objective evidence that subjects who have never had visual experiences can have dreams with virtual images that are probably mediated by the activation of the cortical areas responsible for visual representations.     

Decomposition of warning effects in Parkinson's disease

ABSTRACT

Neutral warning signals speed voluntary reactions by reducing temporal uncertainty and by triggering a brief burst of arousal. We attempted to isolate the phasic arousal mechanism in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) using a clock display to minimize temporal uncertainty. In this condition, the speeding of responses in a color-discrimination task by an accessory stimulus was the fully equivalent to the effect in age-matched control subjects. This indicates preserved phasic arousal in PD. Temporal preparation based on warning cues also appeared to be normal. By contrast, in a condition with high temporal uncertainty, the accessory stimulus (an air puff to the foot) impaired accuracy for the patients but not the neurologically normal subjects. The data are consistent with the view that PD disrupts internal but not external control of alertness.     

Construction Of Reality Or Dependent Origination? From Scientific Psychotherapy To Responsible Attention

The term ‘postmodernism’ has carved itself a niche in everyday, and specialised, vocabulary. We understand it as being the new mentality that emerges from the critique of modernity. This transformation, which has been underway since the second half of the twentieth century, undermines the foremost myth of the modern world, that we can discover an objective and stable truth, that is to say independent and lasting. This change is affecting all areas of human knowledge, from philosophy to physics, as well as human practices and experiences. Its origins are to be found in the theories that label themselves critical, starting with Marxism and existentialism, and in further developments such as hermeneutics, symbolic interactionism, post-structuralism, ethnomethodology, deconstructionism, and others. In this article we wish to recover one of the principal ideas of this change of mentality, the idea of ‘construction of reality’ and contrast it with ‘dependent origination’ (Paticcasamuppada) characteristic of the Dharma, a system of liberation from suffering synthesised by Buddha. We are interested in this relationship in the specific field of Psychotherapy, or in the broader field of Integral Psychology. To this end, firstly we inquire how constructivism has made a space for itself in the scientific world; we then address the constructivist features of the Dharma.     

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.     

Theophostic Ministry: Preliminary Practitioner Survey

This exploratory survey investigated Theophostic Ministry, a recently developed inner healing prayer technique that has simultaneously garnered much anecdotal support and criticism. Specifically, the survey sought to assess who is using Theophostic Ministry, what disorders are being treated, and regular practitioners perceptions of this techniques efficacy. The survey was administered during an advanced training seminar given by Ed Smith, the techniques developer. Of the 148 participants 74% completed the survey (Respondent N = 111). Survey results suggested a wide variety of people are using Theophostic Ministry - from pastors to lay counselors to psychologists. Overall, the respondents believe this technique is very effective and have used the prayer ministry in treating a wide variety of disorders including some quite complex. Training level issues therefore emerged from this surveys findings. These issues are explored and recommendations made. The limitations of the survey are discussed.     

Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Cognitive Recovery After Acquired Brain Damage in Adults

The first two decades of cognitive neuroimaging research have provided a constant increase of the knowledge about the neural organization of cognitive processes. Many cognitive functions (e.g.working memory) can now be associated with particular neural structures, and ongoing research promises to clarify this picture further, providing a new mapping between cognitive and neural function. The main goal of this paper is to outline conceptual issues that are particularly important in the context of imaging changes in neural function through recovery process. This review focuses primarily on studies made in stroke and traumatic brain injury patients, but most of the issues raised here are also relevant to studies using other acquired brain damages. Finally, we summarize aset of methodological issues related to functional neuroimaging that are relevant for the study ofneural plasticity and recovery after rehabilitation. Deceased     

Stimulus-response compatibility between stimulated eye and response location: implications for attentional accounts of the Simon effect

One influential theory of the Simon effect, the attention-shift hypothesis, states that attention movements are the origin of spatial stimulus codes. According to this hypothesis, stimulus-response compatibility effects should be absent when attention shifts are prevented. To test this prediction, we used monocular patches of color that required left or right key-press responses. About half of the subjects could discriminate which eye was stimulated (in a subsequent task), and showed strong spatial compatibility effects between the stimulated eye and the response location. The other half of the subjects could not make a utrocular discrimination (i.e., they could not judge which eye had received monocular stimulation), but the pattern of results was the same: the fastest reaction times were observed when the stimulated eye corresponded spatially to the required response (i.e., a Simon effect). Since the subjects presumably did not move their attention (from the subject's point of view, the stimuli were presented centrally), our results indicate that spatial codes can be produced in the absence of attention shifts. These results also show that utrocular discrimination can be assessed via indirect measures that are much more sensitive than explicit measures.     

Measuring individual and cultural differences in implicit trait theories

A new measure of implicit theories or beliefs regarding the traitedness versus contextuality of behavior was developed and tested across cultures. In Studies 1 (N = 266) and 2 (N = 266), these implicit beliefs dimensions were reliably measured and replicated across U.S. college student samples and validity evidence was provided. In Study 3, their structure replicated well across an individualistic culture (the United States; N = 249) and a collectivistic culture (Mexico; N = 268). Implicit trait and contextual beliefs overlapped only modestly with implicit entity theory beliefs and were predicted by self-construals in ways that generally supported cultural psychology hypotheses. Implicit trait beliefs were fairly strongly endorsed in both cultures, suggesting that such beliefs may be universally held.