The Bender-Gestalt test in differential diagnosis of adolescents with learning difficulties

This study assessed the efficiency of the Haine and Koppitz scoring systems used with the Bender-Gestalt Test (B-G) in terms of their ability to differentiate between adolescents with and without central nervous system (CNS) impairment who were achieving below age-expectations. Utilizing a population of 84 adolescents enrolled in a residential treatment center, both the Haine and Koppitz systems with the Bender-Gestalt differentiated 25 Ss with CNS impairment from 59 Ss wihout such impairment. The results indicated, however, that neither scoring system was useful in individual classification when the B-G was used alone or in combination with intelligence test results.     

Childhood personality foreshadows adult personality and life outcomes two decades later

In a normative sample of 205 children ages 8-12, tracked into adulthood, we examined the predictive links between four childhood personality traits--Mastery Motivation, Academic Conscientiousness, Surgency, and Agreeableness--and adult personality and adaptation 20 years later. Personality demonstrated modest to moderate continuity over those two decades and showed significant predictive validity for success in adult life, including academic attainment, work competence, rule-abiding versus antisocial conduct, and romantic and friend relationships. Results indicated that personality shows coherent patterns over time in terms of both stability and linkages to adaptive behavior. Explicating the processes underlying such patterns is the next frontier for a truly developmental science of personality.     

Psychoanalytic supervision of the difficult patient

Control cases from the broad group of non-neurotic but potentially analyzable patients appear with increasing frequency. The intense, complex transferences they develop place great stress on the psychoanalytic relationship and evoke marked countertransference reactions in psychoanalytic candidates, which reverberate within the supervisory relationship. Through application of a case study method, common themes emerge in the candidate-supervisor dyad: idealization of the supervisor and of classical technique, identification with the patient, parallel process enactments, difficulty maintaining the analytic frame, and the importance of concurrent training analysis. Classical supervisory techniques must be adapted to the "difficult" (non-neurotic) control case. Complex countertransference issues must be carefully addressed while maintaining the teach/treat boundary.     

Ontogeny of social behavior in the megapode Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami)

Megapodes meet conspecifics at an unpredictable age, and it is unknown how their social behavior develops under such conditions. The authors induced encounters between 2-day-old socially naive hatchlings and up to 49-day-old chicks of the Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami) in a large outdoor aviary. All social behavior patterns found in older chicks were present in hatchlings and did not change in form or the frequency in which they occurred thereafer; the frequency of calling was the only feature that changed significantly with age. Chicks stayed only 0.3-2.0 m (medians) apart and synchronized their feeding activity from the age of 20 days. These results indicate that megapode chicks show social behavior without social experience and that this requires no postnatal leaning.     

Gender bias in the evaluation of new age music

Eminent composers in Western European art music continue to be predominantly male and eminence in contemporary pop music is similarly male dominated. One contributing factor may be the continuing under-valuation of women's music. Possible anti-female bias in a contemporary genre was investigated using the Goldberg paradigm to elicit judgments of New Age compositions. Since stronger stereotyping effects occur when information provided about individuals is sparse, fictitious male and female composers were presented either by name only or by name with a brief biography. Evidence for anti-female bias was found in the name-only condition and was stronger when liking for the music was controlled. Other findings were the tendency for females to give higher ratings, and the association of gender differences in liking of the music with ratings of quality in the name-only condition. These results are relevant to the design of formal assessment procedures for musical composition.     

Linking of serially ordered lists by macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta): list position influences

Five monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were trained on 2 sets of 3 5-item serially ordered lists. Then, each set was either linked or not in a counterbalanced, within-subject design. Linking entailed training on the 2 pairs that ordered the 3 5-item lists into a single overall 15-item series. Choices on novel pairings after linking conditions attempted to define the unique contributions of knowledge of within-list ordinal position and between-lists link training. With linkage, the series was immediately treated as a 15-item ordered list. Without linkage, choices reflected list positions from initial learning, but continued testing with directional reward yielded gradual ordering into a 15-item list. Apparently, monkeys remembered and used initial list-position information, but linkage allowed inference of an integrated serial relationship among items. Results supported primate list memory as an organizational process.     

Testosterone and child and adolescent adjustment: the moderating role of parent-child relationships

In a sample of established middle- and working-class families with normally developing children and adolescents ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, sons' and daughters' testosterone levels showed little direct connection to risk behavior or symptoms of depression. In contrast, testosterone's positive relation with risk behavior and negative relation with depression were conditional on the quality of parent-child relations. As parent-child relationship quality increased, testosterone-related adjustment problems were less evident. When relationship quality decreased, testosterone-linked risk-taking behavior and symptoms of depression were more in evidence. Few relations were found between parents' testosterone and child behavior. Boys' and girls' ages and stages of pubertal development were important for understanding the expression of hormone-related problem behavior in some cases but not in others.     

Cognition and affective style: Individual differences in brain electrical activity during spatial and verbal tasks

Relations between brain electrical activity and performance on two cognitive tasks were examined in a normal population selected to be high on self-reported measures of Positive or Negative Affectivity. Twenty-five right-handed women, from an original pool of 308 college undergraduates, were the participants. EEG was recorded during baseline and during psychometrically matched spatial and verbal tasks. As predicted, participants who were high in Positive Affectivity performed equally well on the verbal and spatial tasks, while participants who were high in Negative Affectivity had spatial scores that were lower than their verbal scores. There were no group differences in baseline EEG. Both groups exhibited left central activation (i.e., alpha suppression) during the verbal and spatial tasks. When EEG data were analyzed separately for the group high in Positive Affectivity, there was evidence of parietal activation for the spatial task relative to the verbal task. The EEG data for the group high in Negative Affectivity had comparable EEG power values during verbal and spatial tasks at parietal scalp locations. These data suggest that, within a selected normal population, differences in affective style may interact with cognitive performance and with the brain electrical activity associated with that performance.     

Healing after Columbine: reflections of psychoanalytic responders to community trauma

Following the shootings at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, the Denver Psychoanalytic Society provided both immediate and long-term interventions to those closely impacted by the tragedy. In this effort, analytically trained volunteers faced many personal challenges and role adjustments. To address these issues a reflective study group was formed twenty months after the traumatic event. Group discussions revealed a surprising number of residual symptoms from secondary trauma, as well as opportunities for shared coping among analysts. Little has been written about the very human and subjective responses of analysts in such circumstances. These experiences may be helpful to others in today's world of terrorism and unexpected violent events.