Smells like sib spirit: kin recognition in three-spined sticklebacks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>) is mediated by olfactory cues

The ability to recognise kin has been demonstrated in several animal species. However, the mechanisms of kin recognition often remain unknown. The most frequently discussed sensory modalities to recognise kin are visual, olfactory and acoustical cues. Three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are able to differentiate between kin and non-kin when presented visual and olfactory cues combined. To elucidate, which cues they use to recognise kin female sticklebacks were given the choice between two identical computer animations of courting stickleback males. Next to one animation, water conditioned by a brother was added, while near the other, water from an unrelated male was added. In half of the experiments, the brother was familiar while in the other half he was unfamiliar to the female. Both scenarios were carried out with both outbred and inbred fish. The results showed that the females adjusted their choice behaviour according to relatedness. Furthermore, they were able to recognise both familiar as well as unfamiliar brothers. Inbreeding did not affect this ability. Hence, three-spined sticklebacks are able to recognise their relatives using olfactory cues alone. The cognitive mechanisms underlying this ability were independent from familiarity and not impaired by inbreeding.     

Psychische Beschwerden und Störungen von Studierenden

Background

Psychological distress among students is receiving growing attention in the scientific community as well as in the general public. There are counseling services available in student societies and universities which address psychological distress among students but scientific research in this area is rudimentary and poorly represented.

Problem in question

In order to present the prevalence, extent and type of psychological disorders in students and the alterations over time, an investigation was carried out to show which psychological complaints and disorders were present in students who consulted a psychotherapeutic counseling center. These data were compared with the psychological complaints of a student field study population. Furthermore, alterations in the psychological complaints and disorders of students over periods of 10 and 15 years will be presented.

Methods

The prevalence and change over time of psychological syndromes in students were identified by a comparison between an unselected sample of counseling center clients and several student field samples from the previous 15 years. The type of distress and severity of symptoms were measured with a Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), the Psychosocial Complaints List (PSB), the Satisfaction With Life And Studies Scale (LSZ), the diagnostic assessment according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10), the Complaints Severity Score (BSS) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF).

Results

Previous results of investigations which showed that 20–25% of students suffer from psychological disorders could be confirmed in this study. However, 60–65% of the clients of a counseling center suffered from clinically relevant psychological disorders, which is significantly higher. The most common disorders were depressive moods, lack of self-confidence and exam anxiety, which can mostly be diagnostically assigned to adjustment, depression and anxiety disorders. The comparison with previous studies showed that the types and severity of psychological distress among students have remained stable over the last 15 years, with the exception of test anxiety which increased by 51% from 1993 to 2008. With respect to alcohol abuse, considerably less impairments were found than had been assumed based on the earlier investigations.

Conclusions

Psychological complaints and disorders are frequently found among students and they cause individual suffering as well as economic expenses. Noticeable was the obvious increase in clinically relevant exam anxiety. Psychological-psychotherapeutic counseling centers make an important contribution to screening, clinical assessment, primary health care and prevention of severe mental disorders among students and have shown a continuously increasing number of cases in recent years. Further studies especially in a process-outcome design of the mostly eclectic counseling centers are needed and possibilities will be presented.     

... dort, wo ich berühre, werde ich auch berührt Touched by touching

Ziel der Arbeit ist es, die Berührung, den Berührungssinn oder die Haut als dessen Organ ph?nomenologisch und psychodynamisch zu erfassen sowie zu überlegen, wie der Erfahrungsraum der Berührung sich gestaltet und wie diese Dimension des Fühlens in der psychoanalytischen Psychotherapie sich umsetzt. Die ph?nomenologischen Analysen folgen v. a. den franz?sischen Ph?nomenologen und Philosophen Maurice Merleau-Ponty und Emmanuel Levinas, die psychodynamischen Analysen u. a. Didier Anzieu und Danielle Quinodoz. Der Erfahrungsraum der Berührung wird in folgenden Schritten nachgezeichnet: Einleitend wird zu fragen sein, was die Sprache an Erkenntnissen über die Berührung bereith?lt. In einem zweiten Schritt werden die ph?nomenologischen Analysen beschrieben, die den Erfahrungsraum der Berührung (synchron) erfassen. Dabei werden die Verbindungen zwischen dem Selbst und dem Objekt (Personen) im Mittelpunkt stehen, aber auch die Qualit?ten oder die Regulationsvorg?nge, die in der Berührung und durch die Berührung erbracht werden, und schlie?lich die Zeitlichkeit oder die in dem Prozess der Berührung mitschwingenden Zeiterfahrungen. Die Dimensionen der Unmittelbarkeit, der Wechselseitigkeit und des Abstands werden dabei entscheidend sein; sie werden anhand von exemplarischen Darstellungen von Berührungsmustern in der Kunstgeschichte erl?utert. In einem dritten Teil wird eine Fallvignette aus den Behandlungen der Basler Psychotherapeutischen Tagesklinik zum Ausgangspunkt genommen, um zu zeigen, wie die frühesten Berührungserfahrungen das Selbstverst?ndnis bilden und zur Ich- St?rke beitragen, und wie Psychotherapie, durch eine Berührung mit Worten, bei dem Wiederfinden oder dem neuen Entdecken von Berührung hilft. Anstelle einer Zusammenfassung wird ein Gedicht zum Thema der Berührung erneut die Frage stellen, ob Worte berühren k?nnen.     

Performance as annihilation or integration?1

What happens when the analyst has the impression of being annihilated by the patient? Analysts have a tendency to use more general, i.e. simplifying, constructions such as destructiveness, psychosis or death instinct as explanatory models. In the authors' view, these constructions in the end evade rather than mirror clinical reality. More recent research points to promising possibilities of differentiation, e.g. psychotic mechanisms which are‐as yet undiscussed‐based on Freud's notion of the partial ‘rent in the relation between ego and external world’. These findings emphasize the restitutive function of a symptom or disturbance, i.e. destruction of a relationship which hinders the therapeutic process and which is not understood initially, instead of solely stressing the destructive meaning in a tabooing gesture. The concept of performance attempts to replace simplifying models with a discriminant process, and will be preliminarily defined and explained in delineation to terms already in use such as acting out, enactment, and role responsiveness. The authors explore the question of how the perception of unthought certainty in the performance can either be recognized as a blueprint, i.e. organizing activity, or as the destruction of the relationship so that a new one can emerge. The evidence from a detailed clinical example shows that many treatments can fail at this point and demonstrates how an understanding of performance in this sense offers a chance for integrating processes that otherwise impede treatment.     

Fitting the ratcliff diffusion model to experimental data

Many experiments in psychology yield both reaction time and accuracy data. However, no off-the-shelf methods yet exist for the statistical analysis of such data. One particularly successful model has been the diffusion process, but using it is difficult in practice because of numerical, statistical, and software problems. We present a general method for performing diffusion model analyses on experimental data. By implementing design matrices, a wide range of across-condition restrictions can be imposed on model parameters, in a flexible way. It becomes possible to fit models with parameters regressed onto predictors. Moreover, data analytical tools are discussed that can be used to handle various types of outliers and contaminants. We briefly present an easy-touse software tool that helps perform diffusion model analyses.     

Explorations of anticipatory behavioral control (ABC): a report from the cognitive psychology unit of the University of Würzburg

The report comprises recent theoretical considerations, experimental research, and simulations which all aim at a clarification of anticipatory mechanisms of behavioral control.