Tactical skills and ball speed during a field simulation of penalty kick strategies in soccer

This study investigates the efficacy of intermediate penalty kickers by comparing the effect of applying an automated WiFi system on the field of play to simulate a strategy that takes account of goalkeeper action (dependent) with another for which goalkeeper strategy is irrelevant (independent). Intermediate penalty kickers (n=12) took a pretreatment test of 32 kicks in a "real-play" situation with intermediate goalkeepers (n=3). Two groups of kickers underwent 11 treatment sessions using different strategies and then were administered a posttreatment test. The variables measured were the number of goals scored, whether the direction of the shot was the same or different from the direction of the goalkeeper's move (DDG), ball speed, and the duration of the kicking movement. Data suggested the goalkeepers had a greater capacity to identify advance cues when faced with independent strategy kickers and that dependent strategy kickers achieved lower ball speeds.     

Persons with acquired brain injury and multiple disabilities access stimulation independently through microswitch-based technology

The possibility of enabling two adults with acquired brain injury and profound multiple disabilities to use microswitch-based technology to attain preferred environmental stimuli on their own was assessed. Each of the participants was provided with two microswitches that could be activated by right and left head-turning or head-bending responses. The microswitches were introduced sequentially according to a multiple probe design across microswitches (responses) and allowed access to different sets of auditory or visual stimuli. Eventually, the two microswitches were made available simultaneously. Sessions lasted 5 min. Each participant learned to use the two microswitches successfully and maintained consistent levels of responding when they were simultaneously available. During this phase, both participants showed large within-session variations in their right and left response frequencies, with one of them showing an overall prevalence of the left-side response. The importance of assistive technology within programs for persons with acquired brain injury and multiple disabilities is discussed.     

From prejudice to discrimination: The legitimizing role of perceived threat in discrimination against immigrants

This research analyses the mediational role of threat perception in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (opposition to immigration and opposition to naturalization of immigrants). In the first study, using representative samples in 21 European countries (N = 36 566) from European Social Survey (2002), we showed that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration was more strongly mediated by realistic than by symbolic threat perceptions. In Study 2, using representative samples in two countries with different traditions of immigration (Switzerland, N = 940; Portugal, N = 1514), we showed that realistic threat more strongly mediated the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration, while only symbolic threat perception mediated the link between prejudice and opposition to naturalization. The theoretical implications of considering threat perceptions as factors that legitimize discrimination are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of acute,subchronic and intermittent MDMA (‘ECSTASY’) administration on agonistic interactions between male mice

Recent studies suggest that acute administration of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), an amphetamine derivative popularly known as “ecstasy,” produces an antiaggressive effect in male mice. However, there is no evidence with respect to the development of tolerance or sensitization after its subchronic or intermittent administration. In this study, we examined the action of low to moderate doses of MDMA (1.25, 2.5 and 5 mg/kg, i.p), administered acutely, subchronically (for 7 days) or intermittently, on agonistic behavior elicited by isolation in male mice. Individually housed mice were exposed to anosmic “standard opponents” 30 minutes after the drug administration, and the encounters were videotaped and evaluated using an ethologically based analysis. Acute treatment with MDMA provoked a significant reduction of aggressive behaviors, without altering immobility. However, this action was only selective at 1.25 mg/kg. With the intermediate (2.5 mg/kg) and the highest doses (5 mg/kg) of the drug, it was observed a significant decrease of offensive behaviors, accompanied by an increase of exploration from a distance, avoidance/flee and defense/submission behaviors. This ethopharmacological profile could indicate the existence of an anxiogenic‐like effect of MDMA. The overall picture of the effects of MDMA was very similar in the acutely, intermittently and daily treated animals. No tolerance or sensitization to the actions of the drug was developed after its repeated or intermittent administration.     

Obstacles facing the psychoanalyst when interpreting narcissistic pathologies: Characteristics of the authoritarian patient

This paper explores the unconscious agreements between patient and analyst that promote some aspects of conflict to be excluded from the content of the interpretations. This generates an experience of exerting omnipotent control over the analyst, which subsequently consolidates a narcissistic phantasy. A stagnation of the analytic process is established in the course of the analysis but this remains hidden by areas of partial progress in the patient. Clinical material is provided in order to show the vicissitudes of the interrelationship between patient and analyst. It also demonstrates the working through by the analyst of a situation of both transferential and countertransferential conflict. This leads to an inhibition on the part of the analyst in his interpreting function. The use of projective identifications, which are mutually contradictory and incompatible, is also under discussion. This, as a result of being expressed simultaneously, constitutes a paradox, which may lead the analyst to confusion and an experience of paralysis. The subsequent confusional anxieties are considered. Additionally, authoritarianism is discussed, including its attendant difficulties of establishing boundaries between the self and the object. Finally, under consideration is the risk one takes in formulating authoritarian interpretations, which, in certain cases, can impose criteria on the patient.     

Squares in Fork Arrow Logic

In this paper we show that the class of fork squares has a complete orthodox axiomatization in fork arrow logic (FAL). This result may be seen as an orthodox counterpart of Venema's non-orthodox axiomatization for the class of squares in arrow logic. FAL is the modal logic of fork algebras (FAs) just as arrow logic is the modal logic of relation algebras (RAs). FAs extend RAs by a binary fork operator and are axiomatized by adding three equations to RAs equational axiomatization. A proper FA is an algebra of relations where the fork is induced by an injective operation coding pair formation. In contrast to RAs, FAs are representable by proper ones and their equational theory has the expressive power of full first-order logic. A square semantics (the set of arrows is U×U for some set U) for arrow logic was defined by Y. Venema. Due to the negative results about the finite axiomatizability of representable RAs, Venema provided a non-orthodox finite axiomatization for arrow logic by adding a new rule governing the applications of a difference operator. We address here the question of extending the type of relational structures to define orthodox axiomatizations for the class of squares. Given the connections between this problem and the finitization problem addressed by I. Németi, we suspect that this cannot be done by using only logical operations. The modal version of the FA equations provides an orthodox axiomatization for FAL which is complete in view of the representability of FAs. Here we review this result and carry it further to prove that this orthodox axiomatization for FAL also axiomatizes the class of fork squares.     

Aversive experiences are associated with a rapid and transient activation of ERKs in the rat hippocampus.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) family of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) has been shown to participate in memory formation. We recently found that a hippocampal ERK/MAPK cascade is required for memory formation of an inhibitory avoidance training in rats. Here we reported that this learning task is accompanied by a rapid increase in the phosphorylation of hippocampal p44 MAPK. A single mild foot shock produced a similar effect and three consecutive foot shocks provoked the activation of both p44 and p42 MAPKs. In contrast, a brief exposure to the training box or the habituation to an open field did not alter hippocampal ERK/MAPK levels. Together, these findings indicate that aversive behavioral experiences induced a rapid and transient activation of ERK/MAPKs in the hippocampus.     

Core Semantic Links or Lexical Associations: Assessing the Nature of Responses in Word Association Tasks

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The processes tapped by the widely-used word association (WA) paradigm remain a matter of debate: while some authors consider them as driven by lexical...     

Some reflections on the use and meaning of conflict in contemporary psychoanalysis

The author reflects on the concept of conflict in contemporary psychoanalysis, and especially in European psychoanalysis. In the latter, this concept does not seem to have aroused significant interest. This does not necessarily mean that conflict has been rejected or replaced; rather, there has been a greater focus on preconflictual stages of development. Indeed, conflict is generally implicit in psychoanalytic work, and, like many other concepts, it has very different and at times divergent meanings, both in various psychoanalytic schools of thought and within the same school. The author presents a clinical example to illustrate some of the possible choices of the analyst at work concerning the use of the concept of conflict.     

Perceived frequency of domestic violence against women and neighbourhood social disorder

Regression analyses from a nationally representative sample of 10,235 adult Spaniards, provided in 1995 from the Spanish Demands of Security and Victimization Survey, showed a small and positive relationship between high neighbourhood social disorder and perceived frequency of domestic violence against women in Spanish families, after controlling for sociodemographic variables and size of city. Among sociodemographic variables, sex had the strongest association with neighbourhood social disorder, being more than twice as large as neighbourhood social disorder.