Thought beyond language: neural dissociation of algebra and natural language

A central question in cognitive science is whether natural language provides combinatorial operations that are essential to diverse domains of thought. In the study reported here, we addressed this issue by examining the role of linguistic mechanisms in forging the hierarchical structures of algebra. In a 3-T functional MRI experiment, we showed that processing of the syntax-like operations of algebra does not rely on the neural mechanisms of natural language. Our findings indicate that processing the syntax of language elicits the known substrate of linguistic competence, whereas algebraic operations recruit bilateral parietal brain regions previously implicated in the representation of magnitude. This double dissociation argues against the view that language provides the structure of thought across all cognitive domains.     

The timing of multiple retrieval events can alter GluR1 phosphorylation and the requirement for protein synthesis in fear memory reconsolidation

Numerous studies have indicated that maintaining a fear memory after retrieval requires de novo protein synthesis. However, no study to date has examined how the temporal dynamics of repeated retrieval events affect this protein synthesis requirement. The present study varied the timing of a second retrieval of an established auditory fear memory and followed this second retrieval with infusions of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin (ANI) into the basolateral amygdala. Results indicated that the memory-impairing effects of ANI were not observed when the second retrieval occurred soon after the first (within 1 h), and that the inhibitor gradually regained effectiveness as the retrieval episodes were spaced further apart. Additionally, if the second of the closely timed retrievals was omitted prior to ANI infusions, long-term memory deficits were observed, suggesting that the altered effectiveness of ANI was due specifically to the second retrieval event. Further experiments revealed that the second retrieval was not associated with a change in Zif268 protein expression but did produce a rapid and persistent dephosphorylation of GluR1 receptors at Ser845, an AMPAR trafficking site known to regulate the stability of GluR2 lacking AMPARs, which have been shown to be important in memory updating. This suggests that the precise timing of multiple CS presentations during the reconsolidation window may affect the destabilization state of the memory trace.     

A computerized multidimensional measurement of mental workload via handwriting analysis

The goal of this study was to test the effect of mental workload on handwriting behavior and to identify characteristics of low versus high mental workload in handwriting. We hypothesized differences between handwriting under three different load conditions and tried to establish a profile that integrated these indicators. Fifty-six participants wrote three numerical progressions of varying difficulty on a digitizer attached to a computer so that we could evaluate their handwriting behavior. Differences were found in temporal, spatial, and angular velocity handwriting measures, but no significant differences were found for pressure measures. Using data reduction, we identified three clusters of handwriting, two of which differentiated well according to the three mental workload conditions. We concluded that handwriting behavior is affected by mental workload and that each measure provides distinct information, so that they present a comprehensive indicator of mental workload.     

Becoming and Being an Analyst in the British Psychoanalytical Society

The articles of Elizabeth Spillius and Jennifer Johns exemplify contrasting ways in which an analyst may form her psychoanalytic identity. She may recognize and accept a particular theoretical standpoint as valid, and form an analytic identity around that position. Or she may engage with a variety of viewpoints, and form an analytic identity through the interaction between these and her own internal self-experience. These approaches coexist in the British Psychoanalytical Society. There has been the potential for creative discussion between them, especially as regards their implications for analytic training. These six articles together, however, reveal how hard it has been for such discussion to take place. Spillius describes the disparity between the Society's three groups in relation to candidates' choice of supervisors, and I discuss this further. It seems to reflect an underlying difference in approach to psychoanalytic training, based on these different views of how an analyst's identity is formed. I suggest that the difficulty in debating this freely reflects a fear that opening up the issue might lead the Society to split. In 2005 the so-called Gentlemen's Agreement, which for 60 years governed group balance in the British Society, was formally abolished. In the light of this, I consider what is needed for a Society creatively to contain divergent philosophies of training.     

The Effect of Rehabilitation on Positive Interpretations of Illness

Postoperative patients received one of the three, alternative pain-management treatments: patient-controlled analgesia (PCA); perceived PCA (PPCA without actual control) and continuous intravenous infusion of analgesics (CII). Pain reports, morphine consumption and satisfaction of the groups were compared, and influences of individual differences in preferences for control and trait anxiety were tested. The main findings were: (1) PCA patients consumed less morphine and reported more pain and somewhat higher satisfaction; (2) PPCA patients were intermediate between the other two groups in pain reports and morphine consumption and lowest in satisfaction and (3) individual differences did not moderate the effects of PCA. The findings were interpreted as indicating that the main effect of PCA is increased pain tolerance, and that a bio-psycho-social framework is most appropriate to explain these effects.     

Emotional time distortions: The fundamental role of arousal

An emotion-based lengthening effect on the perception of durations of emotional pictures has been assumed to result from an arousal-based mechanism, involving the activation of an internal clock system. The aim of this study was to systematically examine the arousal effect on time perception when different discrete emotions were considered. The participants were asked to verbally estimate the duration of emotional pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The pictures varied either in arousal level, i.e., high/low-arousal, for the same discrete emotion (disgust or sadness) or in the depicted emotion, e.g., disgust/fear for pictures matched for arousal (high-arousal). The results systematically revealed a lengthening effect on the perception of the duration of the emotional compared to the neutral pictures and indicated that the magnitude of this effect increased with arousal level. Nevertheless, variations in time perception were observed for one and the same arousal level, with the duration of disgust-inducing pictures (e.g., body mutilation) being judged longer than that of fear-inducing pictures (e.g., snake). These results suggest that arousal is a fundamental mechanism mediating the effect of emotion on time perception. However, the effect cannot be reduced to arousal, since the impact of the content of pictures also plays a critical role.     

Coping style in predicting posttraumatic stress disorder among Israeli students

Abstract

Two possible motives for sensation seeking behavior, escape from self-awareness and compensatory self-regulation, were investigated in two studies. In Study I a questionnaire was developed to identify the putative escape and compensation motives suspected to contribute to sensation seeking behaviors. In Study II the factor structure of this new measure, called the Risk and Excitement Inventory (REI), was cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis, and construct validity was examined. Together these studies suggest that the REI comprises two reliable factors, compensation and escape from self-awareness. Study II showed that these factors have a reasonable degree of construct validity. Limits of the measure and the model are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research.     

The doctrine of distribution

Peter Geach describes the ‘doctrine of distribution’ as the view that a term is distributed if it refers to everything that it denotes, and undistributed if it refers to only some of the things that it denotes. He argues that the notion, so explained, is incoherent. He claims that the doctrine of distribution originates from a degenerate use of the notion of ‘distributive supposition’ in medieval supposition theory sometime in the 16th century. This paper proposes instead that the doctrine of distribution occurs at least as early as the 12th century, and that it originates from a study of Aristotle's notion of a term's being ‘taken universally’, and not from the much later theory of distributive supposition. A detailed version of the doctrine found in the Port Royal Logic is articulated, and compared with a slightly different modern version. Finally, Geach's arguments for the incoherence of the doctrine are discussed and rejected.