Why rejection hurts: a common neural alarm system for physical and social pain

Numerous languages characterize 'social pain', the feelings resulting from social estrangement, with words typically reserved for describing physical pain ('broken heart', 'broken bones') and perhaps for good reason. It has been suggested that, in mammalian species, the social-attachment system borrowed the computations of the pain system to prevent the potentially harmful consequences of social separation. Mounting evidence from the animal lesion and human neuroimaging literatures suggests that physical and social pain overlap in their underlying neural circuitry and computational processes. We review evidence suggesting that the anterior cingulate cortex plays a key role in the physical-social pain overlap. We also suggest that the physical-social pain circuitry might share components of a broader neural alarm system.     

Visual masking and RSVP reveal neural competition

A test visual stimulus is harder to recognize when another stimulus is presented in close temporal vicinity; presenting stimuli in close spatial vicinity of a test stimulus reduces its visibility; presenting a stimulus to one eye can render invisible another stimulus presented to the other eye; and perceiving one interpretation of an ambiguous image prevents the simultaneous perception of other visual interpretations. A single, neurophysiological theory, which may be called 'neural competition' might explain all these phenomena: when two alternative neural visual representations co-exist in the brain, they compete against each other.     

When children are more logical than adults: experimental investigations of scalar implicature

A conversational implicature is an inference that consists of attributing to a speaker an implicit meaning that goes beyond the explicit linguistic meaning of an utterance. This paper experimentally investigates scalar implicature, a paradigmatic case of implicature in which a speaker's use of a term like Some indicates that the speaker had reasons not to use a more informative term from the same scale, e.g. All; thus, Some implicates Not all. Pragmatic theorists like Grice would predict that a pragmatic interpretation is determined only after its explicit, logical meaning is incorporated (e.g. where Some means at least one). The present work aims to developmentally examine this prediction by showing how younger, albeit competent, reasoners initially treat a relatively weak term logically before becoming aware of its pragmatic potential. Three experiments are presented. Experiment 1 presents a modal reasoning scenario offering an exhaustive set of conclusions; critical among these is participants' evaluation of a statement expressing Might be x when the context indicates that the stronger Must be x is true. The conversationally-infelicitous Might be x can be understood logically (e.g. as compatible with Must) or pragmatically (as exclusive to Must). Results from 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds as well as adults revealed that (a) 7-year-olds are the youngest to demonstrate modal competence overall and that (b) 7- and 9-year-olds treat the infelicitous Might logically significantly more often than adults do. Experiment 2 showed how training with the modal task can suspend the implicatures for adults. Experiment 3 provides converging evidence of the developmental pragmatic effect with the French existential quantifier Certains (Some). While linguistically-sophisticated children (8- and 10-year-olds olds) typically treat Certains as compatible with Tous (All), adults are equivocal. These results, which are consistent with unanticipated findings in classic developmental papers, reveal a consistent ordering in which representations of weak scalar terms tend to be treated logically by young competent participants and more pragmatically by older ones. This work is also relevant to the treatment of scalar implicatures in the reasoning literature.     

Electroencephalographic registration of low concentrations of isoamyl acetate

Previous research has demonstrated electroencephalogram (EEG) changes in response to low-odor concentrations, resulting in near-chance detection. Such findings have been taken as evidence for olfaction without awareness. We replicated and extended previous work by examining EEG responses to water-water control, 0.0001, 0. 001, 0.01, and 1 ppm isoamyl acetate (IAA) in water paired with water only. Detection was above chance (>50%) for.001 and above, and alpha decreased only to those concentrations, suggesting that EEG changes corresponded to IAA awareness. However, when correct trial EEGs were compared to incorrect trial EEGs during.001 ppm, right posterior/central alpha decreased during incorrect trials and alpha decreased more globally (including frontal sites) during correct trials. These data may not reflect awareness or unawareness per se. Instead, results are discussed regarding activation of perceptual systems in the posterior region during incorrect trials and the activation of frontal action systems during a subset of correct trials.     

Time-dependent impairment of inhibitory avoidance retention in rats by posttraining infusion of a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor into cortical and limbic structures

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is abundantly expressed in postmitotic neurons of the developed nervous system. MAPK is activated and required for induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the CA1 area of the hippocampus, which is blocked by the specific inhibitor of the MAPK kinase, PD 098059. Recently it was demonstrated that MAPK is activated in the hippocampus after training and is necessary for contextual fear conditioning learning. The present work tests the role of the MAPK cascade in step-down inhibitory avoidance (IA) retention. PD 098059 (50 microM) was bilaterally injected (0.5 microl/side) into the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus or entorhinal cortex at 0, 90, 180, or 360 min, or into the amygdala or parietal cortex at 0, 180, or 360 min after IA training in rats using a 0.4-mA foot shock. Retention testing was carried out 24 h after training. PD 098059 impaired retention when injected into the dorsal hippocampus at 180 min, but not 0, 90, and 360 min after training. When infused into the entorhinal cortex, PD 098059 was amnestic at 0 and 180 min, but not at 90 and 360 min after training. The MAPKK inhibitor also impairs IA retention when infused into the parietal cortex immediately after training, but not at 180 or 360 min. Infusions performed into amygdala were amnestic at 180 min, but not at 0 and 360 min after training. Our results suggest a time-dependent involvement of the MAPK cascade in the posttraining memory processing of IA; the time dependency is different in the hippocampus, amygdala, entorhinal cortex, or parietal cortex of rats.     

Relations Among and Between Career Values and Christian Religious Values

Empirical research and vocational theory indicate that values are important in career counseling and vocational choice. Development of these values is influenced by environmental factors, such as religion. However, there are few empirical investigations of the relation between religious values and career values. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of career values to Christian religious values as they might be assessed in career counseling. Results indicate that there was some overlap between religious and career values, although only for specific extrinsic values.     

Die systemische Beratung interpersoneller Konflikte in Familienunternehmen

The unique relationship of two social systems – the family and the enterprise – is the outstanding feature of family enterprises. It has advantages, but at the same time holds some risks. Problems of family enterprises which call for counselling have been often described in the literature, but hardly any tailor-made concepts for specific counselling. After reviewing the literature about counselling for family enterprises and about their specific organisation a counselling concept adapted to their special situation is presented. We describe a systemic counselling method operating resource- and solution-oriented and offering access to various levels with regard to the individual, the family system and the organisation. A case report explains how to proceed.     

Kunsttherapie in der Behandlung chronifizierter Schmerzpatienten

Integrated in the evaluation of an innovative concept of art therapy a questionnaire for the measurement of effects and progression of art therapy (FB-KT) was developed and evaluated. The study was performed as part of a multidisciplinary pain therapy on patients with somatization disorders at the day-care pain clinic of the University of Münster. It was a twelve month lasting study, which started in November 1998 and finished in November 1999. The dimensions of the questionnaire were defined by a sample testing of 108 people. To validate the scales of the FB-KT four relevant standardised instruments in pain therapy were used. The results show, that the quality criteria of the questionnaire can be described as satisfactory to excellent. The results further demonstrate that the FB-KT shows therapeutic effects in the dimensions of emotional experience just as clearly as other standardised instruments do. In addition, FB-KT gives informations about experiences during the therapy sessions.     

A naturalistic longitudinal evaluation of counselling in primary care

This study evaluated the effectiveness of generic counselling in a primary healthcare setting during three months of counselling and followed up the patients' progress after counselling had finished for the next twenty-one months. Questionnaires were completed by patients within the Dorset Primary Care counselling service on referral to counselling and at set points afterwards. A naturally occurring waiting-list group was compared with patients receiving counselling at baseline and three months. Measurements were taken of patients' psychiatric symptomatology, quality of life (QOL) and self-esteem. Patients who received counselling made highly significant improvements compared with those on the waiting list. These improvements were maintained throughout the long-term follow-up. This would indicate that generic counselling has positive effects that can be maintained for a long period of time after counselling has been completed.     

Maintaining Life Satisfaction: The Role of Positive Cognitive Bias

Recent research into population standards of life satisfaction has revealed a remarkable level of uniformity, with the mean values for Western populations clustering at around three-quarters of the measurement scale maximum. While this seems to suggest the presence of a homeostatic mechanism for life satisfaction, the character of such a hypothetical device is uncertain. This paper proposes that well-being homeostasis is controlled by positive cognitive biases pertaining to the self. Most particular in this regard are the positive biases in relation to self-esteem, control and optimism. Past controversies in relation to this proposition are reviewed and resolved in favour of the proposed mechanism. The empirical data to support this hypothesis are discussed in the context of perceived well-being as an adaptive human attribute.