Confronting complexity: insights from the details of behavior over multiple timescales

Young children tend to generalize novel names for novel solid objects by similarity in shape, a phenomenon dubbed 'the shape bias'. We believe that the critical insights needed to explain the shape bias in particular, and cognitive development more generally, come from Dynamic Systems Theory. We present two examples of recent work focusing on the real-time decision processes that underlie performance in the tasks used to measure the shape bias. We show how this work, and the dynamic systems perspective, sheds light on the controversy over the origins and development of the shape bias. In addition, we suggest that this dynamic systems perspective provides the right level for explanations of development because it requires a focus on the details of behavior over multiple timescales.     

The association of depression and sense of belonging with suicidal ideation among older adults: applicability of resiliency models

Suicide among older people, especially men, is a significant problem. In this study the applicability of the compensatory, the risk-protective, the challenge, and the protective-protective models of resiliency for the prediction of suicidal ideation from depression (the risk factor) and sense of belonging to the community (the protective factor) was investigated. A total of 351 retired Australians (130 males and 221 females), with a mean age of 71.31 years (SD = 7.99), completed the Zung Depression Scale, the suicide subscale of the General Health Questionnaire, and the Sense of Belonging Instrument. When sense of belonging (psychological) was the protective factor, results indicated support for the risk-protective model for men and women, and for the compensatory model for women only. In contrast, when sense of belonging (antecedents) was the protective factor, support was evident for the compensatory model for men and women, and for the challenge model for women only. Results indicate that interventions should be developed to enhance sense of belonging among aging adults.     

Separation and divergence: The untold story of James Robertson's and John Bowlby's theoretical dispute on mother–child separation

The work of Robertson and Bowlby is generally seen as complementary, Robertson being the practically oriented observer and Bowlby focusing on theoretical explanations for Robertson's observations. The authors add to this picture an “untold story” of the collaboration between Robertson and Bowlby: the dispute between the two men that arose in the 1960s about the corollaries of separation and the ensuing personal animosity. On the basis of unique archival materials, this until now little known aspect of the history of attachment theory is extensively documented. The deteriorating relationship between Robertson and Bowlby is described against the background of different currents in psychoanalysis in Britain in the interbellum. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Two are better than one: comparison influences infants' visual recognition memory

Despite a large literature on infants’ memory for visually presented stimuli, the processes underlying visual memory are not well understood. Two studies with 4-month-olds (N = 60) examined the effects of providing opportunities for comparison of items on infants’ memory for those items. Experiment 1 revealed that 4-month-olds failed to show evidence of memory for an item presented during familiarization in a standard task (i.e., when only one item was presented during familiarization). In Experiment 2, infants showed robust memory for one of two different items presented during familiarization. Thus, infants’ memory for the distinctive features of individual items was enhanced when they could compare items.     

Toddlers can adaptively change how they categorize: same objects,same session,two different categorical distinctions

Two experiments demonstrate that 14‐ to 18‐month‐old toddlers can adaptively change how they categorize a set of objects within a single session, and that this ability is related to vocabulary size. In both experiments, toddlers were presented with a sequential touching task with objects that could be categorized either according to some perceptually salient dimension corresponding to a taxonomic distinction (e.g. animals vs. vehicles) or to some less obvious dimension (e.g. rigid vs. deformable). In each experiment, children with larger productive vocabularies responded to both dimensions, showing evidence of sensitivity to each way of categorizing the items. Children with smaller productive vocabularies attended only to the taxonomically related categorical grouping. These experiments confirm that toddlers can adaptively shift the basis of their categorization and highlight the dynamic interaction between the child and the current task in early categorization.     

Reexamining Gender Issues in Erikson's Stages of Identity and Intimacy

A number of writers have argued that Erikson's stages of identity and intimacy do not address the experience of women accurately. Several have argued that in women these stages are reversed or fused. This article contends that such claims come out of a serious misreading of Erikson's work and shows that the stages as they stand are not incompatible with the idea that there are relational components of identity formation. New directions for feminist reinterpretations of Erikson's work and for research that reflects his theory more accurately are discussed.     

Contents of Volume 14

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 14     

When is the ball going to hit the ground? Duration estimates, eye movements, and mental imagery of object motion

Performance in 2 versions of a computer-animated task was compared. Participants either indicated the time of arrival of a target that rolled off a horizontal surface and fell--hidden from view--onto a landing point (production task) or judged flight time on a rating scale (judgment task). As predicted, performance was significantly better in the production task (Experiment 1), in which imagery of object motion probably replaced reasoning processes. Participants who exhibited eye movements suggesting mental tracking performed particularly well in the production task (Experiment 2). There was, however, no decrement in performance when participants were asked to fixate the point where the target disappeared. For motion duration estimations, eye movements seem to be only a by-product of mental tracking.     

Psychosozialer Versorgungsbedarf bei Arbeitnehmern

Zusammenfassung  Untersuchungen zu Häufigkeit, Verlauf und Ursachen psychischer Erkrankungen bei Arbeitnehmern sind rar. Die Gründe hierfür liegen sowohl auf Seiten der Arbeitsmedizin, die psychosoziale Aspekte wenig berücksichtigt, als auch bei der Psychotherapie, die zu wenig auf die Arbeitssituation eingeht. Die wenigen aussagekräftigen Untersuchungen legen bei Arbeitnehmern eine ähnlich hohe Prävalenz und Behandlungsbedürftigkeit nahe wie in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Von den Folgen einer störungsinadäquaten Therapie psychischer Erkrankungen sind Arbeitnehmer in besonderem Maße betroffen, da die Erkrankungen nicht nur zu erheblichem persönlichem Leid führen, sondern durch Chronifizierung zu enormen Kosten in der medizinischen Versorgung beitragen. Außerdem sind sie durch krankheitsbedingte Fehlzeiten und (Früh-)Berentungen auch die Ursache weit reichender Produktionsausfälle in der Wirtschaft. Obwohl eine Reihe von Maßnahmen der betrieblichen Gesundheitsförderung zur Besserung der psychischen Befindlichkeit von Arbeitnehmern verfügbar sind, werden sie gegenwärtig noch zu selten eingesetzt und noch weniger evaluiert.

The contribution of EEG coherence to the investigation of language

The contribution of EEG coherence analysis to the investigation of cognition and, in particular, language processing is demonstrated with examples of recent EEG studies. The concept of EEG coherence analysis is explained, and its importance emphasized in the light of recent neurobiological findings on frequency-dependent synchrony as a code of information processing between nerve cell assemblies. Furthermore, EEG coherence studies on naturally spoken and written word and sentence processing are reviewed and experimental results are presented giving new insights into the occurrence of "transient functional language centers" within the brain.