‘Goals’ are not an integral component of imitation

Several theories suggest that actions are coded for imitation in terms of mentalistic goals, or inferences about the actor’s intentions, and that these goals solve the correspondence problem by allowing sensory input to be translated into matching motor output. We tested this intention reading hypothesis against general process accounts of imitation using the pen-and-cups task. The task has three components: participants place a pen in one of two cups, using their right or left hand, and one of two grips. Previous research has revealed a colour minimum error pattern; when one of the components is differentially coloured (e.g., one cup is red and the other blue), accuracy is greatest on the coloured dimension. We found the colour minimum error pattern, not only in the standard version of the task, where participants imitate the actions of a human model, but also in three novel variants of the task, in which participants responded on the basis of spatial or arbitrary stimulus–response mappings to ‘geometric’, non-biological stimuli. These stimuli do not afford the attribution of intentions, and therefore our results support generalist theories of imitation by showing that the colour minimum error pattern is due, not to intention reading, but to the operation of task-general processes of perception, attention and motor control.     

Spared written naming of proper nouns: A case report

Abstract

In this study we describe an investigation into the residual written word retrieval skills of M.E.D., a patient with a severe aphasia. M.E.D.'s performance on written naming and writing to dictation tasks showed a distinctive pattern of performance across semantic categories. The patient's ability to write the names of countries and famous people was consistently superior to her ability to write the names of objects. These results could be considered as indicative of a double dissociation in the proper nouns category, as there are already patients on record who have a selective deficit in retrieving proper nouns.     

Community-Based Participatory Research for Improved Mental Health

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) focuses on specific community needs, and produces results that directly address those needs. Although conducting ethical CBPR is critical to its success, few academic programs include this training in their curricula. This article describes the development and evaluation of an online training course designed to increase the use of CBPR in mental health disciplines. Developed using a participatory approach involving a community of experts, this course challenges traditional research by introducing a collaborative process meant to encourage increased participation by special populations and narrow the parity gap in effective mental health treatment and services delivery.     

Reasons for Not Helping

Second-grade, fourth-grade, sixth-grade, high school, and college students (N = 140) were asked to describe situations in which they would not help someone else and their reasons for not helping in those situations. Younger subjects used perceived self-incompetence as a reason for not helping more frequently than did older subjects. In contrast, older subjects more frequently cited a desire not to violate another's personal situation and/or their own internalized values, laws, and rules as reasons not to help than did their younger counterparts. For a majority of the not-helping categories, however, no significant effect of age level was found, and indeed, some individuals in even the youngest age group expressed subtle and insightful reasons for not helping.     

Brightening His Days: A Reflective Single Case-Study of Social Integration and Recovery

Having been persuaded to change from an older to a newer generation antipsychotic, a gentleman with bipolar depression then had the potential to “recover his life,” which he did by utilizing occupational therapy interventions offered to him by occupational therapists in the UK National Health Service (NHS). This reflective case study illustrates how the combination of medical outpatient clinic and occupational therapy intervention together made a big difference in a person's life. Eleven key ingredients were reflected on as intentional strategies for helping him achieve his life goals.     

The Interactive Effects of Facial Maturity and Name Warmth on Perceptions of Job Candidates

This study investigated the interactive effects of' name warmth and facial maturity on job-hiring recommendations and trait perceptions of others. Subjects examined the bogus resume of a job applicant, attached to which was a picture of a babyfaced or maturefaced female or male. The name of the applicant was either cold or warm, as determined by pretesting. The suitability of the candidate for jobs requiring warmth and competence was rated, and other trait judgments were made. Results revealed that applicants with warm names were viewed as more suitable for a job requiring warmth, hut less suitable for a job requiring competence, and were judged as more sincere, but less powerful, than were applicants with cold names. Name warmth modified the perceptions of power and coldness that are typical when perceiving maturefaced people, although babyfaced job-seekers' name warmth did not affect their suitability for jobs. Specifically, maturefaced applicants with warm names were judged as less powerful and more suited for a job requiring warm than were maturefaced applicants with cold names, and maturefaced female applicants with warm names were perceived as more sincere than their cold-named counterparts. The results are discussed within a context suggesting that both physical appearance, and other nonbehavioral information jointly, and systematically influence impressions of others.     

Chaotic attractors in the therapeutic system 1

Because little research had been done on the presence and role of latent communication in the context of team‐conducted family therapy, the writers set out to monitor unconscious responses generated under these conditions. Specifically, they investigated an ongoing family treatment situation conducted according to the “reflecting team model.” One team of therapists handles the actual treatment session, while the other observes from behind a one‐way mirror. During the course of a session, the second team makes suggestions to the treatment team either by telephone or by calling the therapists out of the treatment room.

As the project developed, the writers found that the unconscious responses of both family and treatment teams indicated a process at work beyond the conscious intentions of the participants. That is, the therapeutic enterprise was functioning as a dynamical system, whose increasing complexity suggested a self organizing principle at work. This paper traces the development of the system's movement toward greater complexity, identifies the specific interventions that indicate this process, describes how all participants demonstrated a high degree of resonance and synchronization with this overarching‐self organizing pattern. This paper serves to alert therapists to the role of unconscious communication within the therapeutic system and postulates that the generation of form within psychotherapy follows many of the same self organizing processes found in other human and non human systems.     

Some thoughts and responses to The Francis Report

This response to the report by lawyer Robert Francis into the failure of National Health Service (NHS) care in Mid-Staffordshire is fairly positive about its conclusions but points out that without consideration of personal, psychosocial factors in care, on the ward, in the institution things are unlikely to improve, the report leaves much unconsidered. Francis emphasises that patient care is at the very centre of the NHS, this is obvious but so often forgotten. He comments that the unhelpful blame culture still exists. Missing from Francis’ analysis is a psychological perspective – the systemic factors he mentions are administrative not relational. This response is an attempt to redress the balance in thinking about the improvement of care for patients and of the working lives of staff.