Worry about terror among young adults living in ongoing security uncertainty

The aim of the current study was to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable, with the exogenous variables being media viewing, differentiation of self, and trait anxiety, and the endogenous variables being somatic symptoms and perceptions of security‐related stress. Participants were divided into two groups by age/academic level: 248 high school students and 191 university students. A pathway correlation model was used to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable. The central finding was that worry about terror was a significant mediating variable in the relationship between the extent of media viewing following terror events and the level of perception of security‐related stress. That is, young people who said they worried a lot reported a high level of stress relating to the terror events they saw covered in the media. In addition, trait anxiety was found to have an effect on stress perception only via the level of worry about terror. This means that high levels of stress are not experienced by all highly trait‐anxious people, but only by those who suffer from higher levels of worry about terror.     

The Deaf and Their Problems by Kenneth W. Hodgson

Abstract

This article is an attempt to develop a coherent, unified, and consistent conceptualization of dreaming and dreamtelling in the clinical setting. Dreams told in a therapeutic setting are challenging events: fantastically rich in content, but often overwhelming in their implications for peoples’ relationships. When told in therapy groups, dreams provide additional challenges for all participants. Learning to work with dreams not only enhances understanding of unconscious intrapsychic and group processes, but may also have a strong impact on the therapeutic culture and working relationships in the group. After differentiating dreaming from dreamtelling, I briefly describe three uses of dreams in groups—the classical “informative” and more familiar “formative” uses, and a new perspective that focuses on the “transformative” aspects of a dream told. According to this perspective, a dream told has an interesting past, an important present, and a worthwhile future because of its interpersonal, intersubjective influence on the dreamer–audience relationship.     

Static and Phasic Cross-Talk Effects in Discrete Bimanual Reversal Movements

The authors examined the hypothesis that the phasic and the static cross-talk effects found in bimanual movements with different target amplitudes originate at different functional levels of motor control, which implies that the effects can be dissociated experimentally. When the difference between the short and the long amplitudes assigned to the 2 hands of 12 participants was decreased, the static effect disappeared. In contrast, the phasic effect, which can be observed only at short preparation intervals, did not disappear; although it became smaller in absolute terms, in relative terms it did not. In addition, the authors compared the time course of amplitude assimilation with the time course of amplitude variability and examined the correlation between left hand and right hand amplitudes. The disappearance of the phasic amplitude assimilation at increasing preparation intervals turned out to be delayed relative to the decline of the correlation between amplitudes. That finding suggests that the assimilation of mean amplitudes and the correlation between left hand and right hand amplitudes are not fully equivalent indicators of intermanual interactions, but may indicate different kinds of inter-limb coupling.     

Intermanual Interactions During Simultaneous Execution and Programming of Finger Movements

In bimanual movements, some differences between the movements performed by the two hands cause interference, while others do not. Similarly, in choice between responses with the left and right hand some differences between the two movements increase RT, while others do not. It is suggested that both kinds of effects are, at least in part, due to the incompatibility between processes that determine characteristics of movements jointly for both hands and that are present during preparation as well as during execution. This hypothesis implies that during execution of one movement, programming of a different movement to be performed with the other hand should be impaired, as compared to a condition in which the successive movements of both hands are the same. This expectation was confirmed for finger movements of different forms where an effect on choice RT had been shown previously. On the other hand, interference between execution and programming is not to be expected when successive movements differ in characteristics that are likely to be specified separately for each hand, as indicated by a lacking effect in choice experiments. This expectation was confirmed for successive movements performed with different fingers of either hand as compared to movements performed with the same fingers.     

Directional Variability of the Isometric Force Vector Produced by the Human Hand in Multijoint Planar Tasks

Numerous studies have examined control of force magnitude, but relatively little research has considered force direction control. The subjects applied isometric forces to a handle and the authors compared within-trial variability when force is produced in different directions. The standard deviation of the force parallel to the prescribed direction of force production increased linearly with the targeted force level, as did the standard deviation of the force perpendicular to the instructed direction. In contrast, the standard deviation of the angle of force production decreased with increased force level. In the 4 (of 8) instructed force directions where the endpoint force was generated due to a joint torque in only 1 joint (either the shoulder or elbow) the principal component axes in force space were well aligned with the prescribed direction of force production. In the other directions, the variance was approximately equal along the 2 force axes. The variance explained by the first principal component was significantly larger in torque space compared to the force space, and mostly corresponded to positive correlation between the joint torques. Such coordinated changes suggest that the torque variability was mainly due to the variability of the common drive to the muscles serving 2 joints, although this statement needs to be supported by direct studies of muscle activation in the future.     

Blocking in Rapid Finger Tapping: The Role of Variability in Proximodistal Coordination

In rapid finger tapping, occasional intertap intervals of about twice the normal length or even longer, called blockings, can be observed. Skilled rapid tapping requires that flexor and extensor activity be timed so that they coincide with certain phases of the finger movement. In the present study, the hypothesis examined was that blockings are associated with a deviation from the proper timing relations between the more proximal signals (electromyographic [EMG] bursts) and the more distal signal (position-time curve of the finger). Participants (N = 8) performed up-and-down tapping. Blockings were compared with the preceding normal tapping cycles; a temporal forward shift of the flexor burst in the time interval between two kinematic landmarks—the lifting of the finger and the reversal of the movement—was found consistently in the blockings The phase shift of the flexor burst relative to the kinematic landmarks did not develop gradually in the course of the tapping cycles that preceded the blocking but was an abrupt deviation, which suggests that blockings occur with an increased likelihood as the extremes of the normal variability of the phase relation are approached.     

The Significance of the Rorschach Method for Consulting Psychology

Abstract

A round-table discussion of the Rorschach test was held at Albany, New York, on May 8, 1937, in connection with the eighth annual meeting of the Association of Consulting Psychologists. There were 32 persons present at this conference with Dr. Bruno Klopfer, of Teachers College, Columbia University, presiding. Dr. Klopfer opened the discussion with a brief survey of the development of the Rorschach method. He presented figures to show the growth of the Rorschach Research Exchange which started with 14 subscribers in the Summer of 1936 and has now reached a total of more than one hundred subscribers in the United States and Europe. He then introduced the various speakers.