The control of saccade trajectories: direction of curvature depends on prior knowledge of target location and saccade latency

Recent reports have shown that saccades can deviate either toward or away from distractors. However, the specific conditions responsible for the change in initial saccade direction are not known. One possibility, examined here, is that the direction of curvature (toward or away from distractors) reflects preparatory tuning of the oculomotor system when the location of the target and distractor are known in advance. This was investigated by examining saccade trajectories under predictable and unpredictable target conditions. In Experiment 1, the targets and the distractors appeared unpredictably, whereas in Experiment 2 an arrow cue presented at fixation indicated the location of the forthcoming target prior to stimulus onset. Saccades were made to targets on the horizontal, vertical, and principal oblique axis, and distractors appeared simultaneously at an adjacent location (a separation of +/- 45 degrees of visual angle). On average, saccade trajectories curved toward distractors when target locations were unpredictable and curved away from distractors when target locations were known in advance. There was no overall difference in mean saccade latencies between the two experiments. The magnitude of the distractor modulation of saccade trajectory (either toward or away from) was comparable across the different saccade directions (horizontal, vertical, and oblique). These results are interpreted in terms of the time course of competitive interactions operating in the neural structures involved in the suppression of distractors and the selection of a saccade target. A relatively slow mechanism that inhibits movements to distractors produces curvature away from the distractor. This mechanism has more time to operate when target location is predictable, increasing the likelihood that the saccade trajectory will deviate away from the distractor.     

Curiosity and exploratory behaviour towards possible and impossible events in children and adults

In four experiments with 4‐, 6‐, and 9‐year‐old children and adults, the hypothesis was tested that, all other conditions being equal, a novel and unusual event elicits stronger curiosity and exploratory behaviour if its suggested explanation involves an element of the supernatural than if it does not (the impossible over possible effect – the I/P effect). Participants were shown an unusual phenomenon (a spontaneous disintegration of a physical object in an apparently empty box) framed in the context of either a magical (the impossible event) or scientific (the possible event) explanation. In the verbal trial, participants showed a clear understanding of the difference between the effect of genuine magic and the effect of a trick. In the behavioural trial, both children and adults showed the I/P effect. They were more likely to run the risk of losing their valuable objects in order to explore the impossible event than the possible event. Follow‐up experiments showed that the I/P effect couldn't be explained as an artifact of the different degrees of cost of exploratory behaviour in the possible and impossible conditions or as a result of misinterpreting magic as tricks. The I/P effect emerged when the cost of exploratory behaviour was moderate and disappeared when the cost was perceived as too high or too low.     

Wallas’ Four-Stage Model of the Creative Process: More Than Meets the Eye?

Based on a detailed reading of Graham Wallas’ Art of Thought (1926 Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. London, UK: Jonathan Cape. [Google Scholar]) it is argued that his four-stage model of the creative process (Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, Verification), in spite of holding sway as a conceptual anchor for many creativity researchers, does not reflect accurately Wallas’ full account of the creative process. Instead, it is suggested that a four-stage model that gives due recognition to the detailed treatment Wallas gave to the Intimation stage is a more authentic representation of his explanation of creativity. A version of this model with three levels of proximity to consciousness (nonconsciousness; fringe consciousness; consciousness) and five stages (Preparation; Incubation; Intimation; Illumination; Verification) is presented as a general conceptual architecture within which relevant concepts and theories from more recent creativity research, including neuroscience and intuition, are positioned and from which a number of implications are drawn.     

Book Review

Abstract

ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR Myocardial infarction and its influence on male sexual function, by C. B. Dhabuwala, A. Kumar,&;J. M. Pierce, 1986, 15(6), 499-504

BEHAVIOR THERAPY Parental perception and treatment outcome in families of aggressive children: A causal model, by Jean E. Duman, 1986, 17, 420-432

PSYCHOTHERAPY Counseling violent couples using Walker's model, by J. Harris, 1986, 23(4), 613-621     

Role incongruency in marriage and family counseling

Abstract

Incongruency in role expectations produces strain in the marriage. But this doer not mean that spouses seeking marriage counseling experience more role incongruency than others. By studying 104 couples divided into experimental and control groups, it was found that there was no more. role expectation incongruency in the couples seeking marriage counseling than in those not seeking counseling. It might be that the major difference lies in how couples of both groups handle whatever incongruency may exist. What occurs between spouses can be easily applied to role incongruency among all members of the family.     

Konflikt- und Strukturachse der Operationalisierten Psychodynamischen Diagnostik des Kindes- und Jugendalters

This paper presents the advantages of a comprehensive Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostic in childhood and adolescence (OPD-CA) for subsequent treatment planning. Information about the conflict and structural axes as a function of age, gender, diagnosis and proposed form of treatment (outpatient/inpatient) was analyzed in a group of 116 patients. Independent from the diagnosis, a similar ranking in the importance of conflicts was found. Self-esteem conflicts were more prominent for inpatient children and adolescents and identity conflicts were more prevalent in children and adolescents who were at the start of outpatient therapy. Patients with an indication for inpatient treatment had a significantly lower level in all structural dimensions. This study analyzes the reasons for these findings.     

Endovaskuläre Therapie des akuten ischämischen Schlaganfalls

Endovascular therapy of acute ischemic stroke represents a supplementary or (in cases of contraindications to systemic lysis) alternative therapy option to intravenous thrombolysis for patients with severe clinical deficits and proximal vascular obstruction. Currently, (in cases with no contraindications to systemic lysis) the combination with mechanical thrombectomy in the form of so-called stent retrievers has proven to be effective and safe. Until superiority over intravenous thrombolysis alone has been proven in certain patient groups, patients who have received endovascular therapy should be carefully documented in register-based studies.     

Benchmarking key service quality indicators in UK Employee Assistance Programme Counselling: A CORE System data profile

Background: Levels of psychological distress appear to be increasing in the workplace, in parallel with the growth of employee assistance programme (EAP) provision offering a range of talking treatments. However, such growth takes place in the absence of a substantive body of supporting research evidence despite a quarter of a decade of research activity. Aims: To analyse a national sample of EAP data and profile relative service quality on a set of key service indicators. Method: CORE System data profiles of over 28,000 clients were voluntarily donated by six EAP service providers. An established benchmarking methodology was used to assess the relative quality of EAP service provision compared with published CORE System benchmarks for NHS primary care and UK higher education student counselling services. Results: High quality data profiled an EAP service clientele who were quantifiably distressed, accessed treatment quickly, with the majority completing treatment and demonstrating high rates of recovery and/or improvement relative to published benchmarks from the NHS and HE comparative sectors. Limitations of the study and implications for practice and further investigation are considered.     

The Second Vatican Council 50th anniversary: visions and re-visions

On 21 November 2014, the 50th anniversary of the solemn promulgation of Lumen Gentium and Unitatis Redintegratio was celebrated. Between ‘aggiornamento’ and ‘ressourcement’ the Catholic Church had been striving to understand itself and its Tradition more precisely, in order to be newly relevant, lastingly true and authoritative in the future ? an indispensible task, if the gospel were to be proclaimed to the contemporary world, but not an easy one. It is little wonder that this completion of the Council's endeavours was preceded by its so-called ‘black week’. Questions remain as to the outcome of it all, and the articles assembled in this issue assess the reception of these two conciliar texts after 50 years. Where do the achievements lie? Where are the shortcomings? Where do questions need to be asked today that reach beyond the horizon of Vatican II?