Dreaming of spiders: Abuse,economics, and theological insecurity in pastoral counseling

... This hope in no hope is clearly demonstrated in the following dream of a young adult woman who had been severely hurt emotionally in her relationships in her family of origin and again in her failing marriage. In this dream, which was presented in a group and dealt with mainly by my co-therapist, the woman placed herself in a glass room like a shower, with the handle to the room's only door on the outside. There was a crack in the glass of one of the room's corners, and through this crack came some spiders. She was lying on the floor and the spiders began to crawl over her. Though she screamed for help, no one would come to open the door. As one approach (among many) to the interpretation of this dream my colleague utilized the manipulation of the dream symbols to ask her to imagine that the spiders had changed into kittens. She resisted this suggestion intensely, saying that she could not allow such an imaginary change. Besides, the spiders weren't too bad to endure, for if she changed the spiders into kittens and the kittens turned out to be evil, then she would be at her rope's end. She preferred to live with her perspective that the world is hostile rather than risk the possibility of another hope being shattered. (Jordan, 1986, pp. 98–99)     

Cross-language facilitation,semantic blindness,and the relation between language and memory: A reply to Altarriba and Soltano

This comment corrects some inaccuracies, points to some methodological problems, and makes three substantive observations regarding the Altarriba and Soltano (1996) article. First, token individuation theory does not explain what is new and interesting in the Altarriba and Soltano data, namely cross-language semantic facilitation in lists and a list-sentence effect, that is, a large difference in the effect of semantic repetition when identical translation equivalents occurred in sentences versus lists. Second, Altarriba and Soltano’s small and nonsignificant semantic blindness effect for translation equivalents in split-language sentences is attributable to the peculiar nature of their materials, procedures, analyses, and experimental design. These problems nullify their conclusion that semantic blindness does not occur, and we discuss several clear cases where semantic blindness has been demonstrated. Finally, we suggest an explanation for Altarriba and Soltano’s unexplained effects (cross-language facilitation and the list-sentence effect) and show why these effects are important for the general issue of relations between language and memory.     

REPETITION BLINDNESS INTERACTS WITH SYNTACTIC GROUPING IN RAPIDLY PRESENTED SENTENCES

Abstract— This study rested for predicted effects of syntax on a repetition deficit (RD) known as repetition blindness, the reduced probability of recall for repeated words in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sentences The syntactic variable was phrase-congruent versus phrase-incongruent grouping within simultaneous RSVP displays With phrase-congruent grouping, each RSVP display contained a syntactic phrase (e g, "to play sports" in the sentence "They wanted to play sports but sports were not allowed"), whereas with phrase-incongruent grouping, RSVP displays contained nonphrases (e g, "sports but sports") RD was extensive with phrase-incongruent grouping (29%), but nonsignificant (6%) with phrase-congruent grouping, as if phrase-congruent groups free up the extra processing time needed to connect repeated words into phrases in rapidly presented sentences, enabling top-down retrieval of the phrases during recall The present results comport with effects of syntax and prosody on auditory RD, and suggest that visual and auditory RD are identical underlying phenomena.     

Chronic pain and “effective” family functioning: A re-examination of the McMaster Model of Family Functioning

This paper attempts to explore the relevance and applicability of the McMaster Model of Family Functioning. It is suggested that what is construed as effective family functioning by the McMaster Model may not be feasible and different standards are needed to determine optimal level of functioning in families with a chronically sick member.