Understanding the language of thought

Conclusions To conclude then, our question was, What determines the content of a thought? This question gets its punch by being set against the background assumption that thoughts are internal physical occurrences. The answer I have proposed is that thoughts can be classified in four importantly different ways. Introspection yields syntactic categories. These are important for cognitive processing, but they do not correspond to contents. A second way of categorizing thoughts is in terms of narrow content. This is determined by the functional role of the thought in rational architecture together with the way in which that rational architecture is tied to the world through input correlations. Narrow contents are indexical, so to get truth bearers we must augment the narrow contents with the values of the indexical parameters. Propositional content can be taken to consist of pairs of narrow contents and values for indexical parameters. Finally, thoughts can be classified in terms of that clauses. This kind of classification does not uniquely determine propositional content, but describes it in a more general way.     

Physiological reactivity in acculturation: a study of female Japanese students

Several investigations have indicated that length of residence can predict acculturation associated with stress. However, there have been no studies from a psychophysiological perspective to assess whether length of residence affects physiological reactivity. The purpose of this study was to compare reactivity to psychological stress in female Japanese students of long- and short-term residence at a large university in northeastern USA, after administering a stress questionnaire to examine stress in adjusting to their US academic lives. 12 subjects were randomly chosen for each group (short- and long-term residence) from an initial population of 90 students. The subjects were presented three stressors (English-reading, stress-imagination, and arithmetic) for 2 min. each, with a 6-min. recovery period following each stressor. A significant interaction appeared for groups over time on heart-rate reactivity. While the long-term group had a linear component in heart rate across time for the tasks, the short-term group did not. Although the short-term group had higher skin temperature than the long-term group, only the short-term group had a tendency to increase skin temperature after the tasks. These data suggest that continued study of physiological reactivity to stress may be useful for developing techniques for coping with acculturative stress.     

Clinical multiplicity of cerebrovascular disorders in childhood

A group of 107 children with vascular diseases of the nervous system aged 3-14 years have been studied. In 100 children of the study group acute disturbances of the brain blood circulation have been found, out of which 37 children were with transitory ischemic attacks; 29 were found to be with brain ischaemia; 22-with haemorrhages (7 cases with subarchnoidal, 9 cases with intracerebral and 6 cases with subarachnoidal-parenchimatose); 5 children had wenous thromboses; 7 children were with spinal strokes. In other 7 children we found the presence of Sturge-Weber syndrome. Congenital vascular malformations have been found in 32 children (30%), out of which 16 children (15%) with loops and stenosis of the extracranial segments of the internal carotid artery, and another 16 children (15%) with AV-malformations. Congenital and acquired heart diseases are found to be primary cause for the strokes in 12 children (11%). Considerable is the rate of the epileptic seizures in the acute stage of the strokes as well as of the residual epileptic syndromes.     

Concentration camp imprisonment and psychological traumatization

The author reports on a Norwegian investigation extending over more than 30 years, which showed that, apart from a few exceptions, all former concentration camp inmates and prisoners in Nazi jails manifest permanent physical and psychic damage. On the basis of these findings the Norwegian government has established a generous statutory compensation program. Unlike its counterpart in the Federal Republic of Germany, this program does not require applicants to demonstrate the cause of illness or its consequences in each case. The method of the investigation is presented in detail.     

Dealing with (bypassing) the difference

The author presents different psychoanalytic conceptualizations of gender difference. She reviews the controversy between Freud and Jones and discusses in detail the views put forward by Montrelay, a student of Lacan, who relates early linguistic development to gender-specific differences in closeness between the child and the "mother's body".     

Psychoses in epilepsy

The heterogenous psychoses in epilepsies, caused by well known conditions, are not rare but associated with regularly a few of seizure-types not with the nature and development of attacks. Polar transitional ranks and converging courses of schizophrenic (accentuated) syndromes in epilepsies and idiopathic schizophrenias are rather frequent. Also (sub-)acute schizophrenic psychoses are corresponding to the complete palette of first and second rank symptoms (K. Schneider) of idiopathic schizophrenias. After manifestations of epilepsy these syndromes can appear at any time. It is given a profile of risks. Progressive avoidance of a. phenylaceturea, b. mixtures of antiepileptics did not put an end to psychotic syndromes: Long-term therapies with 1. Polytherapy, 2. Primidone and Phenytoin (dosedependant) as well as 3. Ethosuximide (-monotherapy) cause a disorder of feed back mechanisms, especially a disturbed regulation of vigilance and sleeping-waking-cycle and their psychological correlates. Carbamazepine and Sodium Valproate are, plasma-level-controlled of preventive antipsychotic effect. Selected neuroleptics of rather slight epileptogenic potency are of going down importance. Benzodiazepines are required mostly in prepsychotic syndromes, Lithium compounds in selected cases. There is no more alternative seizures or psychosis.     

Aspects of family-oriented diagnosis in compulsory legal family expert assessment

In forensic psychology, recommendations that courts request when granting one of the parents the right of child upbringing after a divorce pose a problem for the person who is required to give such expert judgment. The authors describe the difficult situation he faces when having to decide for and, at the same time, against one of the parents. A good knowledge of family psychology and pathopsychology is essential, and for drawing up the expertise and stating his reasons, the expert requires methodical resources. The authors describe four procedures of relational diagnosis and recommend the combined use of these in conjunction with methods that have been employed so far.     

Family satisfaction with medical care after traumatic brain injury

Ratings during acute and follow-up care by 35 families having members with traumatic brain injury showed none of the medical facilities met families' needs though some aspects of patients' care were rated higher in hospitals. Findings suggest comprehensive surveys are needed.     

Attention and disordered eating behavior: II. Disattention to turbulent inner sensations as a risk factor in the development of anorexia nervosa

The Slade model for development of anorexia nervosa proposes that the female may seek success and control in her life by pursuing a thin body through dieting when faced with serious personal problems. Extending upon this model, the present program of research has sought to identify those characteristics of women generally at-risk for anorexia nervosa that would make dieting behavior especially successful, permitting the progression from food restraint into food aversion. The present studies considered whether heightened and stress-related inner stimulation could interfere with the at-risk woman's sensitivity to hunger sensations, thereby decreasing her motivation to eat. A series of analyses conducted within two studies indicated: (1) a relationship between elevated daily stress, concern over being over-whelmed by inner feelings, and a loss of discrimination regarding sources of inner feelings, (2) a tendency to narrow attentional focus when overloaded with excessive internal stimulation, and (3) diminished sensitivity to hunger sensations for women generally at-risk for anorexia nervosa given a narrowed attentional focus.     

Tachistoscopic and questionnaire methods for the measurement of psychological defences

Only few attempts have been made to compare different methods aiming at quantifying defensive strategies. In this study the tachistoscopic Defence Mechanism Test (Kragh, 1960b and 1985) is compared to paper-and-pencil tests of defence. There were virtually no correlations between the DMT and the other measures of defence. This may indicate that the concept of defence is a highly complex one. It is suggested that the Defence Mechanism Test may be measuring primary defence while defence questionnaires may be assessing more secondary forms of defence. The two questionnaires used for assessing defence correlated significantly, while a scale for social desirability showed no correlation with DMT or the two defence questionnaires.