Seeing while moving: measuring the online influence of action on perception

The online influence of movement production on motion perception was investigated. Participants were asked to move one of their hands in a certain direction while monitoring an independent stimulus motion. The stimulus motion unpredictably deviated in a direction that was either compatible or incompatible with the concurrent movement. Participants' task was to make a speeded response as soon as they detected the deviation. A reversed compatibility effect was obtained: Reaction times were slower under compatible conditions—that is, when motion deviations and movements went in the same direction. This reversal of a commonly observed facilitatory effect can be attributed to the concurrent nature of the perception-action task and to the fact that what was produced was functionally unrelated to what was perceived. Moreover, by employing an online measure, it was possible to minimize the contribution of short-term memory processes, which has potentially confounded the interpretation of related effects.     

Die ökologische Dimension der Psychoanalyse und das Konzept der inneren Nachhaltigkeit

Zusammenfassung. Der Autor begründet in seiner Arbeit eine „?kologisch-psychoanalytische” Theorieperspektive, in der er die innere Verwandtschaft zwischen dem modernen ?kologiekritischen Denken und den Menschenbildannahmen der freudianischen Psychoanalyse aufzeigt. Die „kritische ?kologie” befasst sich mit der Frage nach einer sinnvollen, „nachhaltigen” Gestaltung der Kultur-Natur-Beziehung, die Psychoanalyse erforscht und behandelt die innere Selbstbeziehung des Menschen zwischen dem kulturgepr?gt-kulturproduktiven „Ich” und den eigengesetzlichen, natural fundierten motivationalen Seiten der Psyche, die bei Freud als „Es” gefasst werden. Auch die modernen objektbeziehungstheoretischen und selbstpsychologischen Weiterentwicklungen der Psychoanalyse k?nnen vor einem ?kologisch-psychoanalytischen Hintergrund so aufgefasst werden, dass Freuds Fragestellung nach der ge- oder misslingenden Balance bzw. Integration zwischen den motivationalen (Interaktions-) Strebungen der „inneren Natur” einerseits und den Anforderungen der „kulturellen Selbsterzeugung” des Menschen andererseits rahmengebendes Grundthema bleibt. Der Autor macht in seinem Artikel deutlich, dass Psychoanalyse und „kritische ?kologie” gegenseitig voneinander profitieren k?nnen.

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The ecological dimension of psychoanalysis and the concept of inner sustainability

Summary. The author develops an ”ecological-psychoanalytical” perspective of theory that shows the inner relationship between the modern eco-critical thinking and the anthropology of Freudian psychoanalysis. ”Critical ecology” engages in the search for a ”sustainable” organisation of the culture-nature-relationship. Psychoanalysis explores and treats the inner self-relation of man among the culture-imprinted/culture-producing ”Ego” and the nature-founded motivational aspects of psychic, that Freud called the ”Id.” The modern developments of object-relation theory and self psychology can be interpreted as reaffirming Freuds thesis of a well balanced or neurotising integration of motivational (interaction-) drives of ”inner nature” at one hand, and the demands of the ”cultural autogenesis” of man on the other. The author suggests that psychoanalysis and human ecology theory can each profit from the other.

     

Wo steht der Jugendmaßregelvollzug in Deutschland aktuell?

With up to 67% of all young offenders suffering from mental illnesses, the question of how professional care should be arranged for them arises. The ability to detain a young offender for an indefinite period of time in a forensic psychiatric institution represents the final solution in juvenile law. This currently affects approximately 300 patients nationwide, of which there is precise data available only for patients who were detained before the age of 18. This is due to the differing nationwide organisational structures within specific forensic psychiatric institutions for adolescents. There is currently a lack of forensic psychiatric units in several federal states providing treatment for adolescents. When examining under what basis, and when the relocation of a person from a young forensic psychiatric institution into the corresponding adult one occurred, and how long specific pedagogic facilities were provided to these individuals, the differences between various adolescent forensic psychiatric institutions become apparent. This especially concerns young adolescent offenders suffering from delayed mental development.     

Heteroscedasticity as a Basis of Direction Dependence in Reversible Linear Regression Models

Heteroscedasticity is a well-known issue in linear regression modeling. When heteroscedasticity is observed, researchers are advised to remedy possible model misspecification of the explanatory part of the model (e.g., considering alternative functional forms and/or omitted variables). The present contribution discusses another source of heteroscedasticity in observational data: Directional model misspecifications in the case of nonnormal variables. Directional misspecification refers to situations where alternative models are equally likely to explain the data-generating process (e.g., x → y versus y → x). It is shown that the homoscedasticity assumption is likely to be violated in models that erroneously treat true nonnormal predictors as response variables. Recently, Direction Dependence Analysis (DDA) has been proposed as a framework to empirically evaluate the direction of effects in linear models. The present study links the phenomenon of heteroscedasticity with DDA and describes visual diagnostics and nine homoscedasticity tests that can be used to make decisions concerning the direction of effects in linear models. Results of a Monte Carlo simulation that demonstrate the adequacy of the approach are presented. An empirical example is provided, and applicability of the methodology in cases of violated assumptions is discussed.     

The Development of Media Sign Literacy—A Longitudinal Study With 4-Year-Old Children

In a longitudinal study, 137 children at the age of 4 years were tested for media sign literacy, intelligence, and several precursors of academically relevant skills, such as phonological awareness and preschool quantity-number competencies. The children were tested four times over two years, measuring the development of these skills every six months. The purpose of the study was to explore whether children’s level of media sign literacy helps them acquire academically relevant symbolic skills like reading and mathematical competencies. The results indicate that media sign literacy as well as intelligence predict mathematical and linguistic competencies. Longitudinal findings indicate that children with higher levels of media sign literacy also achieve higher scores in precursors of mathematical and reading and writing skills, and structural equation modeling revealed a rich interconnectedness between media sign literacy and intelligence. Media sign literacy had a direct and significant effect on mathematical competencies at measurement point 2 and indirect effects on the precursors of reading and writing skills at measurement point 4.     

Social motives and strategic misrepresentation in social decision making

In 4 experiments, the authors studied the influence of social motives on deception and strategic misrepresentation. In a newly developed information provision game, individuals faced a decision maker whose decision would affect both own and other's outcomes. By withholding information or by giving (in)accurate information about payoffs, participants could try to influence other's decision making. Less accurate and more inaccurate information was given when the decision maker was competitive rather than cooperative (Experiment 1), especially when participants had a prosocial rather than selfish value orientation (Experiments 3 and 4). Accurate information was withheld because of fear of exploitation and greed, and inaccurate information was given because of greed (Experiment 2). Finally, participants engaged in strategic misrepresentation that may trick competitive others into damaging their own and increasing the participant's outcomes.     

Where and how does grammatically geared processing take place-and why is Broca's area often involved. A coordinated fMRI/ERBP study of language processing

We address the possibility of combining the results from hemodynamic and electrophysiological methods for the study of cognitive processing of language. The hemodynamic method we use is Event-Related fMRI, and the electrophysiological method measures Event-Related Band Power (ERBP) of the EEG signal. The experimental technique allows us to approach the relation between cortical structure and cognitive function in a sophisticated way. In particular, we can formulate original working hypotheses about the language-induced changes in the ongoing brain dynamics. We show, on the basis of electrophysiological data collected in an experiment on language production, that synchronized cortical networks code cognitive processes induced by language in form of power modulations of specific frequency bands. The hemodynamic (fMRI) data collected in the same task point to the existence of a central processor for the phrase structure assignment. We conceptualize such a central processor as a frequency scanner, a cortical device designed to pick up synchronized brain activity over a specific range of frequencies. We discuss the experimental designs which result from this set of hypotheses and show their relevance for the models of language processing.     

Transformations in the couplings among intellectual abilities and constituent cognitive processes across the life span

Abstract— Two-component theories of intellectual development over the life span postulate that fluid abilities develop earlier during child development and decline earlier during aging than crystallized abilities do, and that fluid abilities support or constrain the acquisition and expression of crystallized abilities. Thus, maturation and senescence compress the structure of intelligence by imposing age-specific constraints upon its constituent processes. Hence, the couplings among different intellectual abilities and cognitive processes are expected to be strong in childhood and old age. Findings from a population-based study of 291 individuals aged 6 to 89 years support these predictions. Furthermore, processing robustness, a frequently overlooked aspect of processing, predicted fluid intelligence beyond processing speed in old age but not in childhood, suggesting that the causes of more compressed functional organization of intelligence differ between maturation and senescence. Research on developmental changes in functional brain circuitry may profit from explicitly recognizing transformations in the organization of intellectual abilities and their underlying cognitive processes across the life span.