Controlling lexical contributions to the reading of pseudohomophones

Reynolds and Besner (2005) presented a computational account of six effects that emerge when readers are asked to pronounce pseudohomophones (nonwords—e.g., brane—that sound like words when pronounced). In the dual route cascaded (DRC) model of reading, they varied a parameter controlling the rate of inhibition from letter units to the orthographic lexicon to mimic strategic control over the extent of specific lexical processing. In this article, we provide an account in which the effects are simulated by varying the DRC’s reading-aloud criterion—a parameter that sets the minimal level of phonemic activation required to pronounce a letter string. We show that varying this parameter provides another means of controlling lexical contributions to reading aloud.     

The Predictive Power of Combined Neuropsychological Measures for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children

The present study explores the predictive power of seven neuropsychological assessment tools used in combination in classifying children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Twenty-one ADHD boys and 22 community control children participated. Group differences were significant on the continuous performance test only; however, battery analysis did increase overall predictive power, which was moderate. This study highlights the difficulty in identifying consistent mean differences on tests of frontal/executive functioning across studies, as well as the need to assess the predictive validity of these tests in classifying children with ADHD. The study suggests that these tests may provide greater predictive validity when used in combination. Inconsistencies in the literature are discussed, with consideration of research methodology, the heterogeneity of the ADHD population, and comorbid diagnoses.     

Preliminary Findings from a Qualitative Study of Trauma Survivors in Treatment: Changes in Personal Narratives

This article seeks to document the characteristics and themes of later trauma recovery using a grounded theory analysis of interviews with trauma survivors enrolled in outpatient treatment. Little research exists that speaks to patients’ own accounts of the process of trauma recovery. Such accounts might elucidate how psychotherapy helps survivors make and remake meaning of their lives, their experience of traumatic events, and the resources they might call on in psychotherapy to secure recovery. This study examined narrative material gathered in a series of interviews with trauma survivors (n?=?14) who had been in treatment for an average of 8 months and could be described as in a later phase of the recovery process. Two significant themes emerged from the analysis: (a) greater coherence to the trauma narrative, and (b) the emergence of a more reflective and observational stance with respect to one's history. Implications for trauma-informed therapy are discussed.     

Relativism,truth, and incoherence

Conclusion There are many contemporary sources and defenders of epistemological relativism which have not been considered thus far. I have, for example, barely touched on the voluminous literature regarding frameworks, conceptual schemes, and Wittgensteinian forms of life. Davidson's challenge to the scheme/content distinction and thereby to conceptual relativism, Rorty's acceptance of the Davidsonian argument and his use of it to defend a relativistic position, Winchian and other sociological and anthropological arguments for relativism, recent work in the sociology of science, and Goodman's novel articulation of a relativism of worlds and of worldmaking, to mention just some of the contemporary loci of debate, all need to be addressed. So also do the plethora of relativistic arguments spawned by Kuhn and related literature in recent philosophy of science. Therefore, it cannot be said that there is no more to be said on behalf of epistemological relativism. Moreover, the positive task of delineating a defensible version of absolutism remains to be accomplished.Nevertheless, the defenses of relativism considered above do seem to have been successfully undercut. More specifically, the arguments for the incoherence of relativism are as compelling as ever, and have manifestly not been laid to rest by contemporary relativists. The basic Socratic insight that relativism is self-refuting, and so incoherent, remains a fundamental difficulty for those who would resuscitate and defend the ancient Protagorean doctrine or a modern variant of it.     

Focus of attention,self-esteem,and the attribution of causality

An experiment was conducted to investigate how actors' attributions of causality are affected by their expectancy about the outcome of an action and their observation of the actual outcome while in a state of high or low objective self-awareness. In the presence or absence of a camera, subjects delivered therapeutic instructions which were expected to have a positive or a negative effect and which resulted in a positive or a negative effect on a supposedly phobic patient. Principal findings were that (1) attributions to self were greater under high objective self-awareness for positive relative to negative outcomes, (2) attributions to the patient were relatively great under high objective self-awareness when a positive outcome was expected but a negative outcome actually occurred. The results are discussed in terms of the joint role of focus of attention and self-esteem processes in the attribution of causality and in terms of their relationship to Duval and Wicklund's (1973) “focus of attention” attributional analysis.     

A Field Guide to Cinetherapy: On Celluloid Psychoanalysis and Its Practitioners

This paper addresses the strange bedfellowship between psychoanalysis and cinema since the century's turn. Its specific focus is the idiosyncratic psychoanalysis/psychotherapy practised in mainstream cinema and television. Cinetherapists have consistently fallen into one of three categories: Dr. Dippy, a focus of derision, weirder than his patients; Dr. Evil, Hollywood's psychiatric version of the mad, bad scientist; and the unfailingly benevolent, self-sacrificing Dr. Wonderful. The prevalence of these stereotypes has waxed and waned according to shifting cultural circumstances. The study concludes with reflections on the possible impact, deleterious or otherwise, of distorted filmic images of the impossible profession.     

An investigation of monitoring for sleep-related threat in primary insomnia

In Study 1, individuals with primary insomnia (n=32) and good sleepers (n=38), recruited from a university population, completed a semi-structured interview. The interview assessed monitoring for sleep-related threat, negative thoughts and safety behaviours, at night and during the day. Compared to good sleepers, individuals with insomnia reported more frequent monitoring at night and during the day, more negative thoughts associated with monitoring at night and during the day, and the use of more safety behaviours associated with monitoring at night. A path analysis showed that the total monitoring frequency was significantly positively related to the score for total negative thoughts, which in turn, was significantly positively related to the total number of safety behaviours used. Study 2 aimed to test the generalisability of these findings in a clinical sample of individuals with primary insomnia (n=23). The results indicated that the clinical sample also engaged in monitoring for sleep-related threat, experienced negative thoughts and used safety behaviours. Further, more severe insomnia was associated with more negative thoughts and the use of more safety behaviours associated with monitoring at night. Together, these results are consistent with the proposal that monitoring for sleep-related threat functions to maintain insomnia by triggering negative thoughts and the use of safety behaviours. Future research is required to verify the proposed causal status of monitoring, using prospective designs and experimental manipulations.     

Correcting distorted perception of sleep in insomnia: a novel behavioural experiment?

Patients with primary insomnia overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST). The present study aimed to test the utility of a novel behavioural experiment designed to correct distorted perception of sleep among patients diagnosed with primary insomnia. Individuals with primary insomnia were asked to wear an actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three nights. On the following day, half were shown the discrepancy between the data recorded on the actigraph and their sleep diary (Shown-Discrepancy Group), the other half were not shown the discrepancy (No-Demonstration Group). Participants were then asked to wear the actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three further nights. Following the behavioural experiment, the Shown-Discrepancy Group estimated their SOL more accurately and reported less anxiety and preoccupation about sleep compared to the No-Demonstration Group. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.