Habitual computer game playing at night is related to depressive symptoms

This study investigated whether the amount and circadian time of habitual computer game playing were related to depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults. We expected that habitual late playing relates to more depressive symptoms beyond the effect of the total time of computer game playing as playing at night may involve short, irregular, and disturbed sleep as well as misalignment of the circadian rhythm. 646 adolescents and young adults (ages 13–30; 90.9% males) who play the internet role-playing game World of Warcraft completed an online questionnaire. Habitual computer game playing between 10 pm and 6 am was related to an increased risk of high depression scores independent of the total amount of playing. Adolescents (ages 13–17 years) were most vulnerable when habitually playing during early night (i.e., 10–12 pm), while emergent adults (ages 18–22 years) showed more vulnerability when habitually playing late at night (i.e., after 2 am). The effect was partly mediated by daytime sleepiness but not by sleep loss or insomnia problems.     

Word matching and Lexical Decisions: A Visual Half-Field study

In unilateral Visual Half-Field tasks visuospatial and linguistic processing were compared. In a Word Matching task subjects judged the physical identity of simultaneously presented pairs of three-letter words or legal nonwords. No mainfield effects were found, but word pairs were recognized better and faster as "same" than nonword pairs. Latencies and errors in "different" pairs increased monotonically with position of letter change in the left but not in the right visual field (RVF), suggesting a serial, letter-by-letter way of processing for the right hemisphere and a whole word approach for the left. At this perceptual level the ability to store lexical information from the icon is stressed as a hemisphere-specific factor. In a Lexical Decision task the same subjects judged the same items on the word/nonword dimension. A RVF advantage associated with words as compared to nonwords occurred, as expected. Additional analysis suggests that order and difficulty of tasks may influence females' laterality, as compared to that of males.     

Adolescents with high mental toughness adapt better to perceived stress: A longitudinal study with Swiss vocational students

A mindset of mental toughness enables an individual to cope successfully with the pressures and demands of life. This 10-month study prospectively examined the association between mental toughness and stress resilience in 865 students (M = 17.86 years, 42.7% girls) from two vocational schools. Within each school, separate cluster analyses identified groups with different profiles of risk (assessed with perceived stress) and adaptation (operationalized with depressive symptoms and life satisfaction). Four clusters emerged characterizing students with well-adjusted (low risk, good adaptation), maladjusted (elevated risk, bad adaptation), deteriorated (low initial risk, worsening adaptation) and resilient profiles (elevated initial risk, improving adaptation). The latter two clusters reported similar levels of mental toughness at baseline, but resilient adolescents scored significantly higher on mental toughness at follow-up. After controlling for possible confounds, baseline toughness levels predicted depressive symptoms and life satisfaction over time. This study shows that mental toughness operates as a stress resilience resource. Mental toughness is, therefore a topic of interest for health specialists working with adolescent populations.     

Psychoanalysis and Epistemology: The Interrelation Between Clinical Work,Culture and Metapsychology

The paradigmatic theory of modern epistemology holds psychoanalysis in its scientific statute. Even if there is no explicit epistemology in the Freudian writings, it is undeniable that the genesis of psychoanalysis has a rigorous dialetic between theorization and clinical observation. Metapsychology is an organized and consistent set of concepts, capable of explaining and coordinating the analytical experience. It is through metapsychology that clinical work encounters the possibility of universalization, while metapsychology finds the possibility of fulfillment in clinical work. Clinical experience also confirms the interrelation between psychopathology and culture. Modern times have brought about new versions for psychopathological symptoms, which, in turn, have special effects on the narcisistic personalities and the manifestations of anxiety, giving place to different neurotic configurations.     

Left or right carotid endarterectomy in patients with atherosclerotic disease: ipsilateral effects on cognition?

We evaluated hemispheric functions ipsilateral to the side of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in patients with a severe stenosis in the left or right carotid artery. Assessments took place 1 day before and 3 months after CEA. Only right-handed males were included. Nineteen patients underwent surgery of the left carotid artery and 17 of the right. Valid instruments for hemispheric function were included, such as verbal dichotic listening, finger tapping, and a lateralised test for motor planning. Results showed that, preoperatively, patients had lower scores compared to norms on the laterality tests, and on a visuoconstructive test. There was no evidence of ipsilateral improvement related to side of surgery. Left ear dichotic listening improved, which was seen in both left and right surgery groups. Also in both groups, left- and right-hand movement speed in the motor planning test decreased. Conclusion is that beneficial ipsilateral cognitive change after CEA in patients with severe stenosis in one of the carotid arteries may not be demonstrated, even if valid instruments for hemispheric function are included.     

Decision-making under risk conditions is susceptible to interference by a secondary executive task

Recent research suggests two ways of making decisions: an intuitive and an analytical one. The current study examines whether a secondary executive task interferes with advantageous decision-making in the Game of Dice Task (GDT), a decision-making task with explicit and stable rules that taps executive functioning. One group of participants performed the original GDT solely, two groups performed either the GDT and a 1-back or a 2-back working memory task as a secondary task simultaneously. Results show that the group which performed the GDT and the secondary task with high executive load (2-back) decided less advantageously than the group which did not perform a secondary executive task. These findings give further evidence for the view that decision-making under risky conditions taps into the rational-analytical system which acts in a serial and not parallel way as performance on the GDT is disturbed by a parallel task that also requires executive resources.     

Eating Disorders: A Bond between Medicine,Culture and Psychoanalysis

Action in connection with the therapeutic process is often equated with acting out. The subtle behaviour that belongs to ?the complicated system of transmitting and receiving unconscious signals? (Sandler), with which the patient attempts to make the analyst behave as the object of transference or to fulfill an unconscious desire, is also described as acting out or micro-acting out (Treurniet). This fine-grained action, however, means nothing; it is not symbolic or communicative action. Its intention is, rather, to trigger effects and induce interactions. It occurs not only on the side of the analysand but also on that of the analyst, and is part of the unconscious communication in the therapeutic process. Presented here are some of the various interactive ways and means with which the analyst is prompted into unconscious action and certain, unnoticed, ways in that he turn ?treats? the patient. The analyst's action responses can bear the character of interpretations with which he may unintentionally reveal how he regards the behaviour of the patient.     

Differentiation at higher levels of cognitive ability: evidence from the United States

Most psychologists and educators assume that intelligence is a linear construct, meaning that smart people simply have more intelligence than their less gifted peers. Likewise, individuals with mental retardation are thought to have less intelligence. In contrast to this widely accepted belief, the authors posed an alternative hypothesis--that intelligence is qualitatively different in various populations. Using factor analysis of a standardization sample of the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability (R. W. Woodcock & M. B. Johnson, 1989), the authors examined the nature of intellect across ability. Results indicated that the amount of variance attributable to Spearman's g declined as measured intellectual ability increased.