What's in a name: what analyst and patient call each other

Awkward moments often arise between patient and analyst involving the question, "What do we call each other?" The manner in which the dyad address each other contains material central to the patient's inner life. Names, like dreams, deserve a privileged status as providing a royal road into the paradoxical analytic relationship and the unconscious conflicts that feed it. Whether an analyst addresses the patient formally, informally, or not at all, awareness of the issues surrounding names is important.     

Gender differences in temperament: a meta-analysis

The authors used meta-analytical techniques to estimate the magnitude of gender differences in mean level and variability of 35 dimensions and 3 factors of temperament in children ages 3 months to 13 years. Effortful control showed a large difference favoring girls and the dimensions within that factor (e.g., inhibitory control: d = -.41, perceptual sensitivity: d = -0.38) showed moderate gender differences favoring girls, consistent with boys' greater incidence of externalizing disorders. Surgency showed a difference favoring boys, as did some of the dimensions within that factor (e.g., activity: d = 0.33, high-intensity pleasure: d = 0.30), consistent with boys' greater involvement in active rough-and-tumble play. Negative affectivity showed negligible gender differences.     

Not well known, used little and needed: Canadian chaplains' experiences of published spiritual assessment tools

What are Canadian chaplains' experiences of published assessment tools? Utilizing a quantitative and qualitative methodology with multiple investigators and theoretical triangulation, this article reports the results of a survey of chaplains in the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE) and interview results of 15 chaplains in three focus groups. Findings indicated that published spiritual assessment tools are not well know, used little, criticized for being reductionistic and not fitting the clinical situation. Participants noted, however, that spiritual assessment is needed for spiritual care. Thirty percent reported the development of their own tools (not published) and three published tools were mentioned by 50% and more. Discussion, limitations of the research, and suggestions for education, practice, and future research are offered.     

Effects of neocortical ectopias and environmental enrichment on Hebb-Williams maze learning in BXSB mice

Approximately 40-60% of BXSB mice have neocortical ectopias, a developmental anomaly characterized by migration of neurons into the neuron-sparse layer I of cortex. Previous studies have shown that ectopic BXSB mice have superior reference, but inferior working, memory on spatial tasks. Female BXSB mice were housed either in an enriched environment or in standard cages at weaning. Subsequently, these animals were tested on four of the Hebb-Williams mazes in a water-based version of this maze. Theoretically, two of the maze configurations placed greater emphasis on reference memory to find the goal, whereas the other two favored working memory. Ectopics reared in standard housing conditions were better than nonectopics on mazes that favored the use of reference memory, but poorer on mazes that favored working memory. In contrast, subjects raised in the enriched environment showed no ectopia differences. A comparison of enriched and standard housing conditions found that the enriched animals had better reference memory but poorer working memory. The latter effect may be because the enriched environment, although more stimulating, did not change in time or space; and other researchers have shown that daily replacement of stimuli in complex environments is correlated with better working memory.     

Rapid acquisition of choice and timing in pigeons

Pigeons were trained on a concurrent-chains procedure in which the initial link associated with the shorter terminal-link delay to food changed unpredictably across sessions. In the minimal-variation condition, delays were always 10 s and 20 s, whereas in the maximal-variation condition delays were generated pseudorandomly for each session. On some terminal links, food was withheld to obtain measures of temporal control. Measures of choice (log initial-link response ratios) and timing (start and stop times on no-food trials) showed temporal control and stabilized within the 1st half of each session. In the maximal-variation condition, choice was a nonlinear function of the log delay ratio, consistent with a categorical discrimination but contrary to models based on the matching law. Residuals from separate regressions of log response and log start and stop time ratios on log delay ratios were positively correlated. Overall, results support cognitive models that assume that initial-link choice is based on an all-or-none decision process, and that choice and timing are mediated by a common representation of delay.     

New Directions in the Study of Gender Similarities and Differences

ABSTRACT— I review new trends in research on the psychology of gender. The gender similarities hypothesis holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Gender is not only an individual-difference or person variable but also a stimulus variable. Emerging approaches to cross-national measurement of constructs such as gender equality provide new insights into patterns of gender differences and similarities across cultures. Current neuroscience approaches emphasize neural plasticity and provide the opportunity to study neural correlates of males' and females' differential experiences.     

Matching theory and induction explain operant performance

Matching theory is a general framework for understanding allocation of behavior among activities. It applies to choice in concurrent schedules and was extended to single schedules by assuming that other unrecorded behavior competes with operant behavior. Baum and Davison (2014) found that the competing activities apparently are induced by the “reinforcers” (phylogenetically important events, e.g., food) according to power functions. Combined with power-function induction, matching theory provides new equations with greater explanatory power. Four pigeons were exposed to conditions in which 7 different schedules of food delivery were presented within each experimental session. We replicated earlier results with variable-interval schedules: (a) a negatively accelerated increase of peck rate as food rate increased in the low range of food rates; (b) an upturn in pecking at higher rates; and (c) a downturn in pecking at extremely high food rates. When the contingency between pecking and food was removed, the food continued to induce pecking, even after 20 sessions with no contingency. A ratio schedule inserted in place of 1 variable-interval schedule maintained peck rates comparable to peck rates maintained by short interval schedules. We explained the results by fitting equations that combined matching theory, competition, and induction.     

Brief non-symbolic,approximate number practice enhances subsequent exact symbolic arithmetic in children

Recent research reveals a link between individual differences in mathematics achievement and performance on tasks that activate the approximate number system (ANS): a primitive cognitive system shared by diverse animal species and by humans of all ages. Here we used a brief experimental paradigm to test one causal hypothesis suggested by this relationship: activation of the ANS may enhance children’s performance of symbolic arithmetic. Over 2 experiments, children who briefly practiced tasks that engaged primitive approximate numerical quantities performed better on subsequent exact, symbolic arithmetic problems than did children given other tasks involving comparison and manipulation of non-numerical magnitudes (brightness and length). The practice effect appeared specific to mathematics, as no differences between groups were observed on a comparable sentence completion task. These results move beyond correlational research and provide evidence that the exercise of non-symbolic numerical processes can enhance children’s performance of symbolic mathematics.     

We can work it out: Group decision‐making builds social identity and enhances the cognitive performance of care residents

Group‐based interventions have been argued to slow the cognitive decline of older people residing in care by building social identification and thereby increasing motivation and engagement. The present study explored the identity–cognition association further by investigating the impact of a group decision‐making intervention on cognition. Thirty‐six care home residents were assigned to one of three conditions: an Intervention in which they made decisions about lounge refurbishment as a group, a Comparison condition in which staff made these decisions, or a no‐treatment Control. Cognitive function, social identification, home satisfaction, and lounge use were measured before and after the intervention. Participants in the Intervention condition showed significant increases on all measures, and greater improvement than participants in both Comparison and Control conditions. Consistent with social identity theorizing, these findings point to the role of group activity and social identification in promoting cognitive integrity and well‐being among care residents.