Psychache and suicide: a preliminary investigation

Shneidman's Psychological Pain Assessment Scale (PPAS; 1999) was administered to 88 psychiatric patients. Both current and worst-ever psychache were significantly higher in those patients judged by a psychiatrist, on the basis of a structured clinical interview, to be at risk of suicide. However, current and worstever psychache were not associated with having attempted suicide in the past. Thus, for the present sample of psychiatric patients, the PPAS appears to be more sensitive to current suicidality than to past suicidality. Further, there are validity issues with the PPAS, with the need for multi-item measures and probably a multifactor measure.     

The temporal stability of the effects induced by the cued reaction time task

The temporal stability of the effects induced by the Cued Reaction Time Task (CRTT) on the orienting of attention was assessed across four weekly sessions. Benefits, costs, and validity effects were computed for each session, and the correlation coefficients between each session were calculated (interindividual stability index). Intraindividual stability indices, the percentage of individuals showing both costs and benefits or the validity effect, were also calculated. The results (based on 41 participants) show a low stability for the effects in which the neutral trials were involved (benefits and costs) but an acceptable reliability for the validity effect, especially when evaluated using the intraindividual index. To maximize the reliability of the data collected using the CRTT, the validity effect seems to be a better probe of spatial orienting of attention.     

The Net in the Park

Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing, Physical Computing, Everyware, Tangible User Interface, and the Internet of Things all share the same viewpoint—a viewpoint that sees computers, phones, and game consoles as no longer being the only devices in our environment deemed worthy to embody computation and be connected. Each of these approaches focuses on slightly different aspects of the features and potentialities of the enabling technologies (i.e., Physical Computing focuses on the growing power of microcontrollers; IOT on the increasing influence of tagging systems; Everyware on the pervasiveness of the web through wired and wireless connections, etc.) We understand and place more emphasis on the similarities then the differences among these approaches, and at the same time, we try to address specific human activity issues by exploiting these new enabling technologies and visions. In the paper, we present a project, Wi-roni, that addresses two issues: in-person communication and the added value of being in a given location when accessing a given content. To this end, we considered in some detail the possibilities of three of these enabling technologies: ultrasound sensors, MEMS, and mash-up of Internet application. These technologies were chosen based on the nature of the human activity, and not vice versa. In Wi-roni, an Urban Architecture project located in the La Gora public park in Monteroni d'Arbia, a small village in the province of Siena (Italy), we developed two interconnect solutions: Wi-wave, a column for accessing web audio content in public spaces, and Wi-swing, a children’s swing that tells stories while swinging. These devices represent both the concrete grounds from which to begin to address the abovementioned human activity issues and the playground in which to explore the new, emerging interaction modalities that the enabling technologies could allow.     

Difference in sensorimotor adaptation to horizontal and vertical mirror distortions during ballistic arm movements

When learning a novel motor task, the sensorimotor system must develop new strategies to efficiently control the limb(s) involved, and this adaptation appears to be developed through the construction of a behavioral map known as an 'internal model'. A common method to uncover the mechanisms of adaptation and reorganization processes is to expose the system to new environmental conditions, typically by introducing visual or mechanical distortions. The present study investigated the adaptation mechanisms of the human sensorimotor system to horizontal and vertical mirror distortions (HMD and VMD) during the execution of fast goal-directed arm movements. Mirror distortions (MDs) were created by means of virtual visual feedback on a computer screen while the movement was executed on a graphics tablet. Twenty healthy adult participants were recruited and assigned to one of two groups of 10 people each. Tests were divided in two subsequent blocks of five trials. The first block consisted of trials with no mirror distortion (NMD), while the second block was recorded when exposing one group to HMD and the other to VMD. Both MDs resulted in kinematic changes: during the tests with the MDs the participants did not reach the performance level found at the NMD test. Motor performance during HMD appeared to be globally better than during VMD and the adaptation process to VMD appeared to be slower than to HMD, but data interpretation was hampered by large within-participant and between-participant variability. In-depth analyses of the data revealed that most of the motor performance information was contained in the direction of movement. The data supported the idea that the internal model for HMD was already partially built.     

Rethinking the ontogeny of mindreading

We propose a mentalistic and nativist view of human early mental and social life and of the ontogeny of mindreading. We define the mental state of sharedness as the primitive, one-sided capability to take one's own mental states as mutually known to an interactant. We argue that this capability is an innate feature of the human mind, which the child uses to make a subjective sense of the world and of her actions. We argue that the child takes all of her mental states as shared with her caregivers. This allows her to interact with her caregivers in a mentalistic way from the very beginning and provides the grounds on which the later maturation of mindreading will build. As the latter process occurs, the child begins to understand the mental world in terms of differences between the mental states of different agents; subjectively, this also corresponds to the birth of privateness.     

The Budapest meeting 2005 intensified networking on ethics of science

This paper reports on the meeting of the Sounding Board of the EU Reprogenetics Project that was held in Budapest, Hungary, 6-9 November 2005. The Reprogenetics Project runs from 2004 until 2007 and has a brief to study the ethical aspects of human reproductive cloning and germline gene therapy. Discussions during The Budapest Meeting are reported in depth in this paper as well as the initiatives to involve the participating groups and others in ongoing collaborations with the goal of forming an integrated network of European resources in the fields of ethics of science.     

Frequency format facilitates reasoning in simple numerical tasks

This study examined whether it is easier to reason in terms of frequencies or with percentages for simple numerical tasks. Research on probabilistic reasoning has shown that humans can draw correct inferences when problems are presented in terms of natural frequencies but not when in percentages. Whether the same effect can be observed in other numerically simple tasks which are not probabilistic was studied with 40 undergraduate students who volunteered for the experiment (13 men, 27 women; M age of 23 yr.). In a simple numerical task involving frequencies or percentages (N=20), their performance showed representation in frequencies facilitates the task.     

Three-Mode Component Analysis with Crisp or Fuzzy Partition of Units

A new methodology is proposed for the simultaneous reduction of units, variables, and occasions of a three-mode data set. Units are partitioned into a reduced number of classes, while, simultaneously, components for variables and occasions accounting for the largest common information for the classification are identified. The model is a constrained three-mode factor analysis and it can be seen as a generalization of the REDKM model proposed by De Soete and Carroll for two-mode data. The least squares fitting problem is mathematically formalized as a constrained problem in continuous and discrete variables. An iterative alternating least squares algorithm is proposed to give an efficient solution to this minimization problem in the crisp and fuzzy classification context. The performances of the proposed methodology are investigated by a simulation study comparing our model with other competing methodologies. Different procedures for starting the proposed algorithm have also been tested. A discussion of some interesting differences in the results follows. Finally, an application to real data illustrates the ability of the proposed model to provide substantive insights into the data complexities.     

Peer and Teacher-Selected Peer Buddies for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Social,Emotional, and Mentalizing Abilities

This study examined mentalizing abilities, social behavior, and social impact of adolescents who expressed the willingness to become peer buddies for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and adolescents selected by their teachers and peers. Twenty-seven teachers and 395 adolescents from public high schools completed mentalizing abilities, social status, behavioral, and peer buddy nomination measures. Findings suggest that social status and preference play a significant role in the selection of peer buddies by both teachers and classmates. Furthermore, more advanced Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities and the engagement in prosocial behaviors differentiated peers selected as buddies from other classmates. When compared with nonparticipating students, adolescents who expressed willingness to participate were more often girls, and were more prosocial. Agreement between teacher and peer nominations of best peer was moderate.