Results of catamnestic studies on the social prognosis of childhood epilepsies

Owing to the progress in pharmakotherapy the individual prognosis of epilepsy is characterized above all by brainorganic or psychoreactive caused disorders of the adaptability. The results of the examination of 153 children are presented, which were stationary treated for epilepsy. The special problems in the family, the school and in the choice of a job are referred.     

Reducing color-color interference by optimizing selection for action

Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by the simultaneous presentation of an incongruent distractor color somewhere else in the visual field. This interference effect has been attributed to an imperfect input selection (selection-for-processing). We test an alternative account in which it is assumed that (a) target and distractor are identified in parallel without mutual interference, (b) the identified target color has to be selected to control the naming response (selection-for-action), and (c) this selection process takes more time and is less accurate in the incongruent condition than in the control conditions. Experiment 1 shows that color-color interference is obtained when a target color, presented at the point of fixation, is flanked by incongruent colors. In Experiments 2 and 3, the central target position is indicated by an additional exogenous selection cue. The results show that an abrupt-onset cue, presented at the central target position 160 ms after the onset of the target and distractors, reduces the interference effect. This finding is interpreted as supporting evidence for a selection-for-action account of color-color interference.     

Effectiveness of family therapy: a meta-analysis

The effectiveness of family therapy is assessed in a meta-analysis of 19 studies. At post-treatment, the average patient with family therapy is better off than 76% of the patients with an alternative treatment, a minimal treatment or no treatment. This effect is comparable to that assessed of other psycho-therapies at post-treatment. Our data suggest, that the effect of family therapy increases during the first year after treatment, but that the effect may diminish sharply 18 months after the end of therapy. However, more studies with extended follow-ups will be needed before firm conclusions about the long-term effectiveness of family therapy can be advanced.     

Nonlocal determination of brightness in spatially periodic patterns

Recent data require nonlinear spatial summation processes in models for detection of spatially periodic and aperiodic patterns. Contrast matching experiments with suprathreshold grating and spot patterns suggest that nonlinear models may be required for suprathreshold contrast data, but differences between the psychophysical tasks used with periodic and aperiodic patterns make comparison difficult. A series of experiments are reported in which subjects matched local brightnesses and brightness differences within single cycles of grating patterns. This task closely resembles the matching task in classical contrast experiments with aperiodic stimuli, allowing comparison of the data from the two types of experiments. Brightnesses within a 5-cycle/degree (c/deg) sinusoidal grating were largely unaffected by addition of a large 15-c/deg modulation component in either of two phases, in spite of the resulting large change in local luminances within the pattern. As at threshold, complex models are required in order to account for apparent differences between spatial interactions within periodic and aperiodic patterns.     

Similarity of attitudes and instrumentality as determinants of aggression by policemen

The influences of two determinants of aggression were investigated by means of a two by two factorial design. Aggression was operationally defined in terms of the amount and intensity of obnoxious sounds which the subject delivered to the confederate while the latter was trying to perform a task involving estimation of distances. In order to manipulate the first independent variable one half of the group of subjects were led to believe that the victim was someone who had many attitudes similar to their own. The other subjects thought they had to cope with a partner whose attitudes were dissimilar. The second independent variable was manipulated by suggesting to one half of the group of subjects that they would be able to earn increasing sums of money (up to a fixed maximum) depending on the loudness of sounds they were prepared to deliver to their partner. In the non-reward condition money was not mentioned. The subjects were young policemen. The data showed a strong effect of the similarity variable, with significantly more aggression being shown to a dissimilar partner. However, external reward did not lead to a clear increase of aggression. In the discussion attention is given to the relevance of these data to the problem of control of violence in our society.     

Behavioral regulation of gravity: schedule effects under escape-avoidance procedures

Squirrel monkeys were restrained in a centrifuge capsule and trained to escape and avoid increases in artificial gravity. During escape-avoidance, lever responses reduced centrifugally simulated gravity or postponed scheduled increases. The effect of variation in the interval of postponement (equal to the duration of decrease produced by escape responses) was studied under a multiple schedule of four components. Three components were gravity escape-avoidance with postponement times of 20, 40, and 60 sec. The fourth component was extinction. Each component was associated with a different auditory stimulus. Rate of responding decreased with increasing postponement time and higher mean g-levels occurred at shorter intervals of postponement. Effects of the schedule parameter on response rate and mean g-level were similar to effects of the schedule on free-operant avoidance and on titration behavior maintained by shock.     

Self-control in distressed couples: a pilot study

A protocol for the short treatment of fighting couples is described. The treatment consists of three training sessions in which homework assignments are given, aimed at enhancing self-control. The participants received exact instructions on how to monitor their anger, to take time out and to write to the partner in a structured manner, instead of expressing their anger in the usual way. A pre-/post-pilot study with nineteen couples shows that the couples improve significantly more during the training than in the pre-treatment baseline period. During the follow-up phase, the improvements are maintained.     

The Rodewisch theses of 1963--the legacy and duty, the acknowledgment and realization]

Address to mark the 15th anniversary of the "Rodewisch theses" adopted during the 1st International Symposium on Psychiatric Rehabilitation of the European socialist countries in 1963. The author deals with the events leading up to the Symposium and its importance. An analysis is made of how the essential theses of development are being put into practice. Challenges facing psychiatry in future are outlined.