An information-based approach to action understanding

It has been proposed that the ability to make sense of other agents' behavior relies on the activation of internal mechanisms that map action perception onto action execution. In this study we explored the constraints on this ability introduced by eyeheight-scaled information in the optic array. Short and tall participants provided maximum overhead reaching judgments for themselves and another participant. Perceptual information was manipulated by changing the participants' optically specified eyeheight. Observers were modestly accurate in perceiving maximum overhead reach for themselves and for another actor whose action capabilities differed. Perceived maximum overhead reach increased for both self- and other-judgments when the perceiver's eyeheight was increased. The results suggest an important role of perceptual information that has gone unrecognized in existing accounts of action understanding and prediction.     

The Psychoanalytic Conception of Trauma in Ferenczi and the Question of Temporality

A reciprocal and ongoing interaction about theory and clinical technique developed between Freud and Ferenczi in the years from 1908 to 1933. During the course of this ongoing dialogue, the concept of psychic trauma gradually transformed. Ferenczi continued to elaborate on this issue, and concluded with his work on the interaction of trauma and fantasy. Ferenczi initially refuted Freud's early trauma theses and finally conceptualized a metapsychological reformulation of trauma, an inverse development to Freud's formulations. Ferenczi highlighted two essential concepts in the theory and technique of trauma: the processes of identification and the splitting of the ego, while he stressed the enormous role of disavowal in the dynamics of trauma. The author hopes to demonstrate how Ferenczi's contributions added to developments of the concepts of disavowal and temporality, to the recovery of traumatic memory and the modification of the classical concept of interpretations.     

Anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms following wisdom tooth removal

The purpose of the present study was to determine the psychological impact of wisdom teeth removal and to identify the psychological risk factors for the development of dental anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Participants were 34 consecutive elective patients referred for surgical removal of a wisdom tooth under local anesthesia. Frequency of previous distressing dental events and general traumatic life events were assessed at baseline (t1), and emotional distress (pain, state anxiety and disturbance) immediately after treatment (t2). Post-traumatic stress responses were determined three days after treatment (t3), and at four weeks follow-up (t4), while severity of dental trait anxiety was assessed at t1 and at t4. Two patients (8%) met screening criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at t4. Multivariate analysis revealed that previous exposure to distressing dental events and pre-operative anxiety level predicted anxiety level at t4, accounting for 71% of the variance. Severity of pain during treatment was a significant predictor variable of PTSD symptom severity at t4 (25% explained variance). The findings underline the importance of pain-free treatments and awareness of patients' individual predisposition to anxiety or trauma-related symptoms to reduce the risk of iatrogenic psychological harm.     

A Door to HIV‐Prevention Interventions: How Female‐Targeted Materials Can Enhance Female Participation1

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of gender on exposure to gender‐tailored HIV‐prevention brochures. During an unobtrusive observation of participants' reading of brochures, both men and women were likely to avoid gender‐mismatched brochures. However, women were more likely to selectively approach gender‐matched brochures over gender‐neutral brochures than were men. Furthermore, exposure to the female‐targeted brochure predicted accepting an HIV‐prevention video. This pattern was only the case for females and not for males or for the male‐targeted brochure. This finding implies that the gender‐tailored brochures are more useful for women than for men, and may open the door to other materials designed with preventive objectives.     

Information Regarding Social‐Sexual Behavior as an Antecedent to Perceptions of Ineffectiveness in the Workplace1

Three experimental studies investigated whether information implying social‐sexual behavior (any non‐work‐related behavior containing a sexual component) by employees would influence judgments of their effectiveness. In managerial and entry‐level positions, both male and female employees depicted as engaging in social‐sexual behaviors at work were perceived as less effective and less desirable as bosses, compared to identically described managers for whom no social‐sexual behavior information was provided. However, these negative evaluations were mitigated when information was provided indicating that these managers were always on‐task and effectively using their time at work (Study 3), suggesting that the effectiveness of employees who engage in social‐sexual behavior at work is devalued because others believe that these behaviors detract from productive time in the office.     

Personality trait similarity between spouses in four cultures

We examined patterns of trait similarity (assortative mating) in married couples in four cultures, using both self-reports and spouse ratings on versions of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. There was evidence of a subtle but pervasive perceived contrast bias in the spouse-rating data. However, there was strong agreement across methods of assessment and moderate agreement across cultures in the pattern of results. Most assortment effects were small, but correlations exceeding .40 were seen for a subset of traits, chiefly from the Openness and Agreeableness domains. Except in Russia, where more positive assortment was seen for younger couples, comparisons of younger and older cohorts showed little systematic difference. This suggested that mate selection, rather than convergence over time, accounted for similarity. Future research on personality similarity in dyads can utilize different designs but should assess personality at both domain and the facet levels.     

LÉVY HIERARCHY IN WEAK SET THEORIES

We investigate the interactions of formula complexity in weak set theories with the axioms available there. In particular, we show that swapping bounded and unbounded quantification preserves formula complexity in presence of the axiom of foundation weakened to an arbitrary set base, while it does not if the axiom of foundation is further weakened to a proper class base. More attention is being paid to the necessary axioms employed in the positive results, than to the combinatorial strength of the positive results themselves.     

Anti-metaphysical reasoning and sociological approach: roads from nationalism to regionalism in the 19th–20th century Hungarian intellectual tradition

Some central issues of fin-de-siècle Hungarian philosophy and intellectual tradition can be retrieved from the writings of József Eötvös and his mid-nineteenth century contemporaries. An ambiguous attitude towards metaphysics, emphasis on sociological issues as well as a regional perspective are apparent in his texts prior to the emergence of the great fin-de-siècle generation of Hungarian intellectuals. They survived the Habsburg Empire thanks to the post-Monarchical literary tradition and Péter Esterházy’s works; they provided an adequate vocabulary for the Central European experience following the Soviet Era.     

False recognition of emotional stimuli is lateralised in the brain: An fMRI study

We have investigated whether the left (LH) and right (RH) hemisphere play a different role in eliciting false recognition (FR) and whether their involvement in this memory illusion depends on the emotional content of stimuli. Negative and neutral pictures (taken from IAPS) were presented in the divided-visual field paradigm. Subjects task was to indicate whether the pictures had already been presented or not during the preceding study phase. FR rate was much higher for the RH than the LH presentations. In line, FR resulted in activations mainly in the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) for either RH or LH presentations. Emotional content of stimuli facilitated the formation of false memories and strengthened the involvement of the right PFC in FR induction.     

Differential effects of beta-adrenergic receptor blockade in basolateral amygdala or insular cortex on incidental and associative taste learning

The importance of central β-adrenergic system has been essentially investigated in aversive/emotional learning tasks. However, recent data suggest that the β-adrenergic system is also required for incidental taste learning. In the present study we evaluated in rats whether β-adrenergic receptor activity is required for taste habituation, an incidental taste learning, and also for conditioned taste aversion (CTA) learning, an associative learning. To address this issue, a low dose of the β-adrenergic antagonist propranolol was infused before learning in either the basolateral amygdala (BLA) or the insular cortex (IC), two forebrain areas reported to play a key role in taste memory formation. Incidental taste learning was assessed using a single presentation of the sweet taste saccharin 0.1%, which is sufficient to increase saccharin consumption (relative to water baseline) during a second presentation. CTA was assessed by pairing the first saccharin 0.1% presentation with a delayed gastric malaise, thus causing a decrease in saccharin consumption (relative to water baseline) during a second presentation. Propranolol infusion in BLA (1 μg/0.2μl) or IC (2.5 μg/0.5 μl) before the first taste exposure impaired incidental taste learning but did not affect CTA. These results highlight the important role played by the β-adrenergic receptor activation in cortical and amygdaloid structures during taste learning. Moreover, they are the first to suggest that incidental learning is more sensitive to blockade of noradrenergic system than associative learning.