The Effects of Experimentally Induced Rumination Versus Distraction on Analogue Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Rumination has been suggested to be an important factor maintaining posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using an analogue design, this study aimed to experimentally test the hypothesis that trauma-related rumination maintains PTSD symptoms. Fifty-one participants were first asked to give a detailed narrative of a negative life event and were then randomly assigned to a rumination or distraction condition. In line with the hypotheses, rumination about the event resulted in the maintenance of negative mood and intrusive memories immediately after the manipulation whereas distraction resulted in symptom reduction. However, this effect was reversed during a subsequent symptom provocation task, in which distraction led to a greater increase in some of the symptoms than rumination. Results are in line with the idea that rumination is involved in the maintenance of PTSD but may suggest a complex relationship between rumination and posttraumatic stress symptoms.     

Early Modern Intentionalism: Replies to LoLordo’s Comments

I clarify Locke’s intentionalism and explain what we might gain by paying more attention to the role of linguistic intentions in the work of the British empiricists.

A role for Synapsin in associative learning: the Drosophila larva as a study case

Synapsins are evolutionarily conserved, highly abundant vesicular phosphoproteins in presynaptic terminals. They are thought to regulate the recruitment of synaptic vesicles from the reserve pool to the readily-releasable pool, in particular when vesicle release is to be maintained at high spiking rates. As regulation of transmitter release is a prerequisite for synaptic plasticity, we use the fruit fly Drosophila to ask whether Synapsin has a role in behavioral plasticity as well; in fruit flies, Synapsin is encoded by a single gene (syn). We tackled this question for associative olfactory learning in larval Drosophila by using the deletion mutant syn^97CS, which had been backcrossed to the Canton-S wild-type strain (CS) for 13 generations. We provide a molecular account of the genomic status of syn^97CS by PCR and show the absence of gene product on Western blots and nerve-muscle preparations. We found that olfactory associative learning in syn^97CS larvae is reduced to ~50% of wild-type CS levels; however, responsiveness to the to-be-associated stimuli and motor performance in untrained animals are normal. In addition, we introduce two novel behavioral control procedures to test stimulus responsiveness and motor performance after “sham training.” Wild-type CS and syn^97CS perform indistinguishably also in these tests. Thus, larval Drosophila can be used as a case study for a role of Synapsin in associative learning.     

Tragic figures: Thoughts on the visual arts and anatomy

The illustrated anatomical works of Andreas Vesalius, now icons of medical history, exemplified Renaissance humanists' attitudes toward the human condition. Methods of teaching medical students gross anatomy have evolved from the attitudes and methods of Renaissance scientist-scholars. The work of Vesalius is crucial to understanding the revolution in early modern medicine, for not only is it devoted to minute observation and exploration of the human body, but also to translating new knowledge by means of art. In the process of illustration, the cadavers become ennobled, leading the viewer to contemplation of the nature of our common humanity. It is the thesis of this paper that the merging of art and science achieved in the great anatomical studies of the 16th and 17th centuries may still be useful in the education of medical students by allowing a balance between scientific detachment and compassion.     

Shedding light on words and sentences: near-infrared spectroscopy in language research

Investigating the neuronal network underlying language processing may contribute to a better understanding of how the brain masters this complex cognitive function with surprising ease and how language is acquired at a fast pace in infancy. Modern neuroimaging methods permit to visualize the evolvement and the function of the language network. The present paper focuses on a specific methodology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), providing an overview over studies on auditory language processing and acquisition. The methodology detects oxygenation changes elicited by functional activation of the cerebral cortex. The main advantages for research on auditory language processing and its development during infancy are an undemanding application, the lack of instrumental noise, and its potential to simultaneously register electrophysiological responses. Also it constitutes an innovative approach for studying developmental issues in infants and children. The review will focus on studies on word and sentence processing including research in infants and adults.     

Health care practitioners' perceptions of public mental health care in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of health care practitioners (HCPs) concerning public mental health care in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data were collected from thirteen purposively selected HCPs using in-depth unstructured interviews (males?=?6, females?=?7). Data were transcribed verbatim and later thematically analysed. The findings suggest that mental health professionals perceive mental health services to be both inadequate and of suboptimal quality. Specifically, they perceived public mental health care to have lower priority, to be poorly resourced and lacking in patient-oriented care qualities.     

Realism of Confidence,Modes of Apprehension,and Variable-Use in Visual Discrimination of Relative Mass

We investigated the role of movement in the perception of a novel affordance for wheelchair locomotion. Healthy adults without prior wheelchair experience judged the lowest lintel under which they could roll in the wheelchair. Prior to judgments, some participants were given brief (~2 min) practice at self-controlled wheelchair locomotion. There were 2 main results. First, participants who had this brief practice accurately judged their own minimum passage height (even when practice did not include passage under low lintels), whereas participants who had no practice gave inaccurate judgments. Second, prejudgment practice strongly influenced movement of the head and torso during judgment sessions. The results demonstrate that affordance perception can be learned through brief, indirect practice and suggest that such practice can inform exploratory movement.     

Encroachments on State Sovereignty: The Argumentation Strategies of the George W. Bush Administration

As the world has increasingly embraced globalization, temptations to encroach on traditional boundaries of state sovereignty for reasons of self-interest mount. Argumentation studies provide an important lens for examining the public discourse used to justify such moves. This essay examines the Bush administration’s strategic use of the definitional processes of association and dissociation to build its public case for regime change in Afghanistan. After exploring how the Bush administration’s early rhetoric after 9/11 failed to actually provide the Taliban a choice to remain in power, the essay reveals three combinations of the terrorism/state relationship that functioned as an argument by definition to gain support for the US campaign to overthrow the regime.