Alexithymia and individual differences in emotional expression

Two studies examined verbal and nonverbal expression in relation to facets of alexithymia. Participants were videotaped while they talked about negative and positive events that had happened to them. Persons high in difficulty identifying feelings were less emotionally expressive, nonverbally, of positive emotion during a positive talk, and of negative emotion during a negative talk. Other facets of alexithymia were not independently related to expressiveness. Verbal expressiveness was not independently related to any facet of alexithymia. Study 2 showed that these relationships were independent of whether the participant was alone or with another. The implications for the understanding of the nature of the deficit in alexithymia, and of the effects of disclosure are discussed.     

Age-related positivity enhancement is not universal: older Chinese look away from positive stimuli

Socioemotional selectivity theory postulates that with age, people are motivated to derive emotional meaning from life, leading them to pay more attention to positive relative to negative/neutral stimuli. The authors argue that cultures that differ in what they consider to be emotionally meaningful may show this preference to different extents. Using eye-tracking techniques, the authors compared visual attention toward emotional (happy, fearful, sad, and angry) and neutral facial expressions among 46 younger and 57 older Hong Kong Chinese. In contrast to prior Western findings, older but not younger Chinese looked away from happy facial expressions, suggesting that they do not show attentional preferences toward positive stimuli.     

Intuition,Foundationalism and Explanation – a Response to Mounce

Wittgenstein's scant remarks on the roots of language in instinctive behaviour have been both difficult to interpret and controversial, not least because they may seem to incline towards forms of explanation that elsewhere he eschewed. Nevertheless, they are of importance in philosophy, not least because they bear upon age‐old questions of foundationalism and concept‐formation. In a recent Discussion Note in this journal (Mounce, Philosophical Investigations, 2016, 39: 385–390), H. O. Mounce is not only attracted by but also champions such explanation – though he finds Wittgenstein's own “explanations” inadequate in important respects, as evidenced in his misguided criticisms of Moore in On Certainty and in his behaviouristic remarks on the roots of the “cause and effect” language‐game. In this response, I try to identify the philosophical roots of this attraction and the points at which Mounce's account departs from the elucidatory and non‐explanatory path established by Wittgenstein.     

A window on the normal development of sensitivity to global form in Glass patterns

We studied the development of sensitivity to global form in 6-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and adults (n = 24 in each group) using Glass patterns with varying ratios of paired signal dots to noise dots. The developmental pattern was similar whether the global structure within the Glass patterns was concentric or parallel. Thresholds were equally immature for both types of pattern at 6 years of age (about twice the adult value) but were adult-like at 9 years of age. Together, the results indicate that the cortical structures involved in the processing of global form achieve functional maturity between 6 and 9 years of age. During middle childhood, the mechanisms mediating sensitivity to concentric structure develop at the same rate as those mediating sensitivity to parallel structure.     

Interventions to address the stigma associated with leprosy: a perspective on the issues

This paper presents a perspective on stigma as an effect of leprosy. It identifies some of the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to stigma reduction in leprosy and presents a rationale for considering alternative strategies. It is suggested that models used to explain health behavior in developed societies are inappropriate for explaining leprosy stigma or for developing strategies to address it. The author recommends due consideration of the alternative logic that characterizes cultural belief systems in countries where leprosy is a challenge. Criticism of the common practice of information dissemination as a strategy to address leprosy stigma is defended and the merits and limitations of an integrated health service in India is discussed. The author defends the suggestion that the principal objective of stigma interventions should be "normalization". An example of a Nepalese project based on empowerment theory is given to demonstrate how the transformation of identity from outcast to positive change agent, can effect "normalization".     

Differences in the functional neuroanatomy of inhibitory control across the adult life span

Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress irrelevant or interfering stimuli, is a fundamental cognitive function that deteriorates during aging, but little is understood about the bases of decline. Thus, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study inhibitory control in healthy adults aged 18 to 78. Activation during "successful inhibition" occurred predominantly in right prefrontal and parietal regions and was more extensive, bilaterally and prefrontally, in the older groups. Presupplementary motor area was also more active in poorer inhibitory performers. Therefore, older adults activate areas that are comparable to those activated by young adults during inhibition, as well as additional regions. The results are consistent with a compensatory interpretation and extend the aging neuroimaging literature into the cognitive domain of inhibition.