An investigation of brain processes supporting meditation

Meditation is an ancient spiritual practice, which aims to still the fluctuations of the mind. We investigated meditation with fMRI in order to identify and characterise both the “neural switch” mechanism used in the voluntary shift from normal consciousness to meditation and the “threshold regulation mechanism” sustaining the meditative state. Thirty-one individuals with 1.5–25 years experience in meditation were scanned using a blocked on–off design with 45 s alternating epochs during the onset of respectively meditation and normal relaxation. Additionally, 21 subjects were scanned during 14.5 min of sustained meditation. The data were analysed with SPM and ICA. During the onset of meditation, activations were found bilaterally in the putamen and the supplementary motor cortex, while deactivations were found predominately in the right hemisphere, the precuneus, the posterior cingulum and the parieto–temporal area. During sustained meditation, SPM analysis revealed activation in the head of nucleus caudatus. Extensive deactivations were observed in white matter in the right hemisphere, i.e. mainly in the posterior occipito–parieto–temporal area and in the frontal lobes. ICA identified 38 components including known baseline-resting state components, one of which not only overlaps with the activated area revealed in the SPM analysis but extends further into frontal, temporal, parietal and limbic areas, and might presumably constitute a combination of frontoparietal and cinguloopercular task control systems. The identified component processes display varying degrees of correlation. We hypothesise that a proper characterisation of brain processes during meditation will require an operational definition of brain dynamics matching a stable state of mind.     

Der schwierige Weg der Dritten Gewalt zwischen Freiheit und Sicherheit

The Federal Constitutional Court is searching for a legal instrument with which it can enforce the entitlement to freedom of those sentenced to lengthy prison terms when leniency is not shown due to the passivity of correctional facilities. Increasingly – and in contrast to the 1990s – judicial ministries urge correctional facilities to be conservative with respect to decisions on privileges due to the prioritization of aspects of public security (trial vs. expectation clauses). The courts responsible for the execution of civil judgment need successful experiences in the liberalization of the enforcement of sentences in order to give a positive legal prognosis. With its most recent decision, the Federal Constitutional Court affirmed its determination to aid the inmates’ entitlement to freedom if the penal system does not relax sentences. From a criminological perspective, it is already the case that the relevance of leniency tests for the creation of prognoses is questioned. A sentence enforcement chamber of the regional court in Aachen recently ordered the release of a prisoner after 35 years without any leniencies. Specialists’ appraisals were given priority over the judicial correctional facility’s judgment. Under consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of denied privileges the paper calls for stronger constitutional access for the courts responsible for the enforcement of sentences.     

The Contribution of Resistance Resources and Sense of Coherence to Life Satisfaction in Older Age

We investigate how the sense of coherence and resistance resources explain two aspects of life satisfaction, general life satisfaction and satisfaction with health in older age. For the first time, we tested the mediating role of the sense of coherence. In our questionnaire study, 387 older persons at the mean age of 73.8 years volunteered. In addition to the sense of coherence and life satisfaction measures, we assessed selected resistance resources representing relevant socio-demographic, functional health, social network, everyday competence, and psychological factors. We found that (a) resistance resources and the sense of coherence significantly predicted life satisfaction, (b) the sense of coherence was a mediator of the relationship between resistance resources and life satisfaction, and (c) the predicted effects did not differ for general life satisfaction and satisfaction with health. The sense of coherence as well as resources such as physical health, everyday competence, social support, and self-esteem are important antecedents of life satisfaction. Moreover, the sense of coherence represents a superordinate concept as it pools resistance influences on life satisfaction.     

The effects of parental scaffolding on preschoolers' executive function

The present study explores the effects of parental scaffolding of children's problem solving on the development of executive function (EF). Eighty-two children were assessed at 2, 3, and 4 years of age on a variety of EF tasks and, at ages 2 and 3, on a problem-solving puzzle with which parents offered structured assistance (i.e., scaffolding). Unlike previous studies of parental scaffolding, children's EF was examined at each time point. Scaffolding at age 3 was found to have a direct effect on EF at age 4. Furthermore, scaffolding at age 2 had an indirect on EF at age 4 through the child's verbal ability at age 3.     

How To Extend The Dialogical Approach To Provability Logic

The core ideas of the dialogicalapproach to modal propositional logic are explainedby means of an elementary example. Subsequently,ways of extending this approach to the system G ofso-called provability logic are checked, therebyraising the question whether the dialogician is inneed of shaping his Nichtverzögerungsregel(non-delay-rule), in order to get it sufficiently precise,in different ways for different modal systems.     

Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: integrating process models of life satisfaction

The authors examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in the prediction of the affective (hedonic balance) and the cognitive (life satisfaction) components of subjective well-being (SWB). They predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is mediated by hedonic balance and that the relation between hedonic balance and life satisfaction is moderated by culture. As a consequence, they predicted that the influence of personality on life satisfaction is also moderated by culture. Participants from 2 individualistic cultures (United States, Germany) and 3 collectivistic cultures (Japan, Mexico, Ghana) completed measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, hedonic balance, and life satisfaction. As predicted, Extraversion and Neuroticism influenced hedonic balance to the same degree in all cultures, and hedonic balance was a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in individualistic than in collectivistic cultures. The influence of Extraversion and Neuroticism on life satisfaction was largely mediated by hedonic balance. The results suggest that the influence of personality on the emotional component of SWB is pancultural, whereas the influence of personality on the cognitive component of SWB is moderated by culture.     

Personality traits in eating-disordered patients with and without self-injurious behaviors

Although there is a high comorbidity of eating disorder and self-injurious behavior (SIB), no systematic research has focused on personality trait differences in patients with and without SIB. In this study, a Dutch adaptation of the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1992) was completed by 178 female, eating-disordered (ED) patients of whom 46.5% showed at least 1 form of SIB (e.g., cutting, burning, hair pulling). A subsample of 41 patients also completed the NEO-PI-R. Compared to patients without SIB, ED patients with SIB scored significantly higher on the Neuroticism scale and significantly lower on the Extraversion scale; on subtraits (facet scores) they appeared to be more anxious, more willing to please and less cheerful, efficient and ambitious. Personality traits were not associated with frequency or form of SIB or subtype of ED (except for impulsiveness). We also did not find a significant interaction effect between ED subtype and presence/absence of SIB.     

Musiktherapie bei chronisch-tonalem Tinnitus

Tinnitus therapy according to the Heidelberg model of music therapy integrates psychological strategies in order to manage the perception and approaches to tinnitus aimed at curing the underlying somatic disorder. The specific musical therapeutic interventions as well as the postulated specific effective factors are explained. Several multidisciplinary studies support the effectiveness of this form of therapy. The results indicate that the therapy is highly advantageous in terms of treatment duration, effectiveness, and follow-up stability compared to customary interventions. Furthermore, the results of brain imaging strongly suggest the usefulness of further investigations and discussion in the realm of neuronal modeling of chronic tinnitus.