(Still) Modern Times: Objectification at work

A great deal of research has investigated gender‐related objectification. In the current work, we aim to extend the empirical research on this phenomenon to the working domain. Consistent with several theoretical assumptions, we expected that factory workers would be objectified as a consequence of their work. In Study 1, we showed that each of the critical features of factory work (i.e., repetitiveness of movements, fragmentation of activities and dependence on the machine) significantly affected the view of the worker as an instrument (vs. a human being) and as less able to experience human mental states. Coherently, we found that factory workers, unlike artisans, were perceived as more instrument‐like (Study 2) and as less able to experience mental states (Study 3) when participants were asked to focus on the target's manual activities rather than on the target as a person. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.     

Systemic-Oriented Psychological Counselling for Caregivers of People with Severe Brain Injury: Reflections on a Clinical Case

Severe brain injuries can have dramatic consequences on family life, often changing rules and routines and fostering intense and prolonged caregiving duties. People affected by the injuries have to face relevant restrictions in their activities and a loss of independence. Thus, primary caregivers are often involved in their assistance, which can entail the help for self-care, movements and many activities of daily living. Furthermore, cognitive and behavioural symptoms can complicate communication, disrupt previous relationships and put an additional strain on all family members. Indeed, caregiving relationships take place in wider familial and societal contexts and are obviously influenced by previous characteristic of such relationships, as they were before the onset of the pathological condition. Therefore, a thorough examination of typical emotions, feelings and thoughts that can emerge during caregiving must be paralleled by an ecological and developmental perspective, in order to appraise the complexity of these cases and provide effective interventions. The present work aims to address such topics taking inspiration from a clinical case.     

Understanding Cancer Patients’ Narratives: Meaning-Making Process,Temporality, and Modal Articulation

Temporality is a fundamental dimension of each narrative process of meaning making. In fact, the narration constructs and organizes temporal frames that connect one's own experiences. From this point of view, oncological illness is experienced as a traumatic experience that interrupts the sense of continuity of one's own life, resulting in the configuration of different temporal frames, which are not always able to support the processes of elaboration of this experience. The aim of this article is to explore the way the modal verbal predicates (must, can, will, know) are organized and work in relation to the representation of time in narrations of cancer patients. The modal verbal predicates—introducing the meanings of possibility, knowledge, will, desire, duty, need, or ability—allow us to organize the relationship between the subject, action, and context. Six narrations of cancer experience were analyzed—one for each time frame (linear, circular, fragmentary, static, cyclic, and spiral) proposed by Brockmeier (2000)—by means of quali-quantitative analysis of the use of modal verbs. Narrations show specific modal positioning: dispersion, plasticity, focusing, rigidity, and poverty. It is possible organize them along a continuum from plasticity to rigidity. The modal plasticity is the capacity to reconfigure a new temporal relation between subject and context, whereas modal rigidity shows a repetition of a specific and same modality in connecting subject and context. This preliminary research allows us to reflect about some possible clinical implications to support and foster processes of meaning making of cancer conditions.     

Relationship quality of persons with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome

In the field of sleep disorders, the quality of couple relationship is arousing increasing attention, given its implications for quality of life and treatment adherence. The aim of the present study was to evaluate relationship quality in a sample of treated or untreated patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome. Eighty-seven patients were recruited in a hospital-based Centre for Sleep Medicine. Subjects were administered the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) to evaluate relationship quality, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Apnoea-hypopnoea indexes (AHI) were collected through nocturnal polysomnography or home testing with a portable monitoring device. Although the DAS average scores were similar to local normative values, relationship quality was significantly lower in the untreated patients when compared with the ones treated. The ESS scores showed a negative correlation with many DAS scores, whereas no significant correlation emerged for AHI. Such data suggest a significant impact of perceived sleep apnoea symptoms on marital satisfaction, even though in the absence of striking differences between the whole sample and the general population.     

Learn locally, act globally: Learning language from variation set cues

Variation set structure - partial overlap of successive utterances in child-directed speech - has been shown to correlate with progress in children’s acquisition of syntax. We demonstrate the benefits of variation set structure directly: in miniature artificial languages, arranging a certain proportion of utterances in a training corpus in variation sets facilitated word and phrase constituent learning in adults. Our findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms of L1 acquisition by children, and for the development of more efficient algorithms for automatic language acquisition, as well as better methods for L2 instruction.     

Assessing the interplay between fear and learning in mice exposed to a live rat in a spatial memory task (MWM)

In this study we tested the hypothesis that fear might facilitate learning when experienced contextually to the task. To this purpose, learning and memory performance of CD-1 mice in a Morris Water Maze (MWM) was assessed in the presence of a live predator (rat). Results indicate that a live predator induced specific predatory-avoidance responses, such as diving behavior and thigmotaxis. The rat-exposed group showed the most adaptive strategy, balancing anti-predator behavior and escape responses, while the rat pre-exposed group showed impairment in the initial phases of the acquisition. The probe trial revealed distinct swimming patterns but equal memory abilities in the different groups. Overall, this procedure represents a novel and easy test to assess the effects of stressful stimuli, contextually to spatial learning and memory performance, in mice.     

Lonely hearts and angry minds: Online dating rejection increases male (but not female) hostility

The present work explores the hostile tendencies elicited by romantic rejection in the increasingly common context of online dating. To empirically investigate this issue, we created an ad hoc online dating platform in which fictitious online dating partners romantically rejected heterosexual male and female participants. Results revealed that male—but not female—participants who were rejected by desired dating partners displayed increased hostility. This pattern of findings was consistent across different measures, which considered both aggressive tendencies against the rejecting partners and hostile attitudes against the opposite gender. Further, increased feelings of anger explained the relationship between online romantic rejection and increased male hostility. Our work and its findings have both theoretical and methodological implications for the understanding of interpersonal processes in online interactions and the growing body of literature on online dating.     

A modified mark test for own-body recognition in pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina)

Classic mirror self-recognition mark tests involve familiarizing the subject with its mirror image, surreptitiously applying a mark on the subject’s eyebrow, nose, or ear, and measuring self-directed behaviors toward the mark. For many non-human primate species, however, direct gaze at the face constitutes an aggressive and threatening signal. It is therefore possible that monkeys fail the mark test because they do not closely inspect their faces in a mirror and hence they have no expectations about their physical appearance. In the current study, we prevented two pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) from seeing their own faces in a mirror, and we adopted a modified version of the classic mark test in which monkeys were marked on the chest, a body region to which they normally have direct visual access but that in the current study was visible only via a mirror. Neither monkey tried to touch the mark on its chest, possibly due to a failure to understand the mirror as a reflective surface. To further the monkeys’ understanding of the mirror image, we trained them to reach for food using the mirror as the only source of information. After both monkeys had learned mirror-mediated reaching, we replicated the mark test. In this latter phase of the study, only one monkey scratched the red dye on the chest once. The results are consistent with other findings suggesting that monkeys are not capable of passing a mark test and imply that face and body recognition rely on the same cognitive abilities.