Effects of working memory training in young and old adults

Many cognitive abilities, including working memory and reasoning ability, decline with progressing age. In this study, we investigated whether four weeks of intensive working memory training would enhance working memory and reasoning performance in an age-comparative setting. Groups of 34 young (19–36 years) and 27 older (62–77 years) adults practiced tasks representing the three functional categories in the facet model of working memory capacity: storage and processing, relational integration, and supervision. The data were compared to those of a young and an old active control group who practiced tasks with low working memory demands. A cognitive test battery measuring near and far transfer was administered before and after training. Both age groups showed increased working memory performance in the trained tasks and in one structurally similar, but nontrained, task. Young adults also improved in a task measuring word-position binding in working memory. However, we found no far transfer to reasoning in either age group. The results provide evidence that working memory performance can be improved throughout the life span. However, in contrast to a previous study in which each facet of working memory capacity was trained separately, the present study showed that training multiple functional categories simultaneously induces less transfer.     

The Activities of The Scandinavian Societies

Freud's concept of the death instinct has given rise to many different interpretations which have often been contradictory. It is in fact already possible to discern two diametrically opposite meanings of this concept in Freud's work from 1920—Beyond the Pleasure Principle—in which he first introduced the concept of the death instinct. In this paper, it is argued that both these meanings are relevant in describing psychical life, although only one of these meanings actually qualifies for the concept “death instinct”. Beyond the Pleasure Principle was written in order to try to understand some everyday, as well as clinical phenomena which could not be explained by the so-called pleasure principle. Freud postulated something beyond the pleasure principle, which initially seemed to have to do with binding energy. I will preserve this idea and attempt to develop it within the context of a phenomenological analysis of time. The temporalization of the subject involves a very basic affirmation of existence, in that the subject experiences something constant, something that can be said to possess the quality of a gestalt. I propose that that which is beyond the pleasure principle—this binding of energy—should be understood as the opposite of the idea of a primordial death instinct striving towards death. In this case, that which is beyond the pleasure principle reflects an original affirmation of existence, which could be said to correspond to Freud's first meaning of the death instinct. The second meaning—for which the name “death instinct” seems to be applicable—concerns the discharge of energy, which from a temporal point of view shows itself as a tendency to dissolution. The concept of the death instinct in its various meanings is discussed in connection with phenomenological reflections on time, which is a different approach from Freud's attempt to ground the death instinct in biology.     

Book Review

LOGIC AND ONTOLOGY

PETER SIMONS,Parts: a study in ontology.Oxford , Clarendon Press. 1987. Xiii + 390 PP. £40.

GERHARD HEYER, Generische Kennzeichnungen. Zur Logik und Ontologie generischer Bedeutung. Miinchen und Wien: Philosophia Verlag, 1987. 289pp. DM 138.

GÖDEL STUDIES

GÖDEL , O. TAuSSKY-TODD, S. C. KLEEnE and g. kreisel. Gödel remembered: Salzburg 10-12 July 1983. Edited and foreword by P. Weingartner and L. Schmetterer. Naples: Bibliopolis, 1987. 186 pp, 10 plts. $49.95.

S. G. SHANKER (ed.), Gödel's theorem in focus. London: Croom Helm, 1988. 261 + ix pp. £25.00 (hardback)/£l1.95 (paperback).

SET THEORY AND NUMBER

ALFRED TARSKI and STEVEN GIVANT, A formulization of set theory without variables. (American Mathematical Society Colloquium Publications, volume 41.) Providence,Rhnde Is!and: American Mathematical Society. 1987. 280 pp. $60.00.

J. Bidelow, Thr reality of numbers. A physicalist 's philosophy of mathematics. Oxford: Clarrndon Press. 1988. viii+ 193 pp. £25.

MISCELLANEOUS

PETER J. STEINBERGER, Logic and politics. Hegel's philosophy of' right. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988. xiii + 254 pp. £22.00/$29.00.

MICHELE MALATESTA, La logical primaria. Strumenti per un dialogo tra le Due Culture Napoli and Roma: LER, 1988.193 pp. 25000 lire.     

Attitude toward environmental policy measures related to value orientation

Moderated mediation effects on attitude toward environmental policy measures of a self‐enhancement vs. self‐transcendence value orientation were examined in two studies. Study 1 (n = 91) showed that for policy measures incurring nontransparent personal costs, influence of value orientation on attitude is fully mediated by environmental concern, whereas for measures incurring transparent personal costs, influence is partially mediated by environmental concern. Study 2 (n = 71) showed that while influence of value orientation on attitude toward eco‐labeled electricity is not mediated by environmental concern, it is fully mediated by reluctance to pay surcharges for eco‐labeled electricity. Value orientation was also shown to moderate influence of reluctance to pay on attitude in that reluctance had an effect only for a self‐enhancement value orientation.     

Parents' perceptions of their child's academic competencies construe their educational reality: Findings from a 9‐year longitudinal study

Academically and vocationally educated parents were asked to assess their child's academic competencies and motivation when the child was in preschool, then every 2 years till the end of the child's comprehensive school. It was found that the initial increasing trend in the parental attributions of competence stabilized and even turned downwards and that the education‐ and gender‐bound differences in the attributions, already manifest at the preschool stage, were still in evidence and had got more varied forms. It is suggested that parental perceptions of competencies are activated in a socially structured field of meanings and that highly educated parents construe their educational reality in terms of the social representation of natural giftedness.     

A Structural Validation of an Inventory Based on the Abridged Five Factor Circumplex Model (AB5C)

Nineteen upper-middle class, pre-marital, college couples volunteered to participate in a study on interpersonal relationships. Couples received a modified Rorschach, thematic test, Marriage Value Inventory, a sex questionnaire, and an intensive depth interview. A Q sort of 100 personality items was used to assess the Ss. It was hypothesized that couples would show smaller discrepancies than randomized pairs, except for items relating to dominance, dependency, nurturance, exhibitionism, masculinity and femininity, where the reverse was predicted. Results confirmed the homogamy prediction, but only the dependency need was significant of the complementary predictions. Perception scores and expressive behavior are seen as potential adjuncts to questionnaires and inventories in predicting marital choice.     

Improving Experience in Personal Social Systems through Family Constellation Seminars: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

This study examined the efficacy of family constellation seminars (FCSs) on individuals' experience in their personal social systems, especially the experience of belonging, autonomy, accord, and confidence. We conducted a single‐blind, stratified and balanced, randomized controlled trial. Participants were 208 adults (M = 48 years, SD = 10, 79% women) who were randomly allocated either to the intervention group (3‐day FCSs; 64 active participants, 40 observing participants) or to the wait‐list group (64 active participants, 40 observing participants). Change was measured short‐term (2‐week and 4‐month follow‐up) using the Experience In Social Systems Questionnaire, personal domain (EXIS.pers). EXIS.pers is a new outcome measure being applied for the first time in evaluation research. In addition, we used interpersonal scales derived from established measures (Outcome Questionnaire, OQ‐45; Tool for the Evaluation of the Psychotherapeutic Progress, FEP). The average person in the intervention group showed improved experience in personal social systems, as compared with approximately 73% of the wait‐list group after 2 weeks (total score: Cohen's d = .61, p = .000) and 69% of the wait‐list group after 4 months (total score: d = .53, p = .000). The results were confirmed in per‐protocol analyses (n = 191) by the results of the EXIS.pers dimensions (Belonging, Autonomy, Accord, and Confidence) and the interpersonal scales derived from the OQ‐45 and FEP. No adverse events were reported. This RCT provides first evidence that FCSs tend to positively influence participants' experience in their social systems.