Colour, face, and visuospatial imagery abilities in low-vision individuals with visual field deficits

This study investigates to what extent visual perception integrity is necessary for visual mental imagery. Sixteen low-vision participants with severe peripheral visual field loss, 16 with severe central field loss, 6 left brain-damaged patients with right homonymous hemianopia, 6 right brain-damaged patients with left homonymous hemianopia, and 16 normally sighted controls performed perceptual and imagery tasks using colours, faces, and spatial relationships. Results showed that (a) the perceptual and mental image>ry disorders vary according to the type of visual field loss, (b) hemianopics had no more difficulties imagining spatial stimuli in their contralesional hemispace than in their ipsilesional one, and (c) the only hemianopic participant to have perceptual and mental imagery impairments suffered from attentional deficits. Results suggest that (a) visual memory is not definitively established, but rather needs perceptual practice to be maintained, and (b) that visual mental imagery may involve some of the attentional-exploratory mechanisms that are employed in visual behaviour.     

Recruitment of intuitive versus analytic thinking strategies affects the role of working memory in a gambling task

Previous studies found mixed results concerning the role of working memory (WM) in the gambling task (GT). Here, we aimed at reconciling inconsistencies by showing that the standard version of the task can be solved using intuitive strategies operating automatically, while more complex versions require analytic strategies drawing on executive functions. In Study 1, where good performance on the GT could be achieved using intuitive strategies, participants performed well both with and without a concurrent WM load. In Study 2, where analytical strategies were required to solve a more complex version of the GT, participants without WM load performed well, while participants with WM load performed poorly. In Study 3, where the complexity of the GT was further increased, participants in both conditions performed poorly. In addition to the standard performance measure, we used participants’ subjective expected utility, showing that it differs from the standard measure in some important aspects.     

A theory of clinical practice: the cognitive and the narrative

Today the extent of the difference between theoretical models of therapy is under discussion. There have been proposals to abandon such models altogether, or to create others, such as integrative or meta‐ theoretical models. This article proposes, through the analysis of a clinical situation, the possibility of building a theory of practice which could account for most of the aspects of the therapeutic process that remain tacit and implicit. Such a theory could help us explain what concretely happens when a therapist is doing therapy, and also how theoretical models interact with the everyday practice of therapists.     

On the syndrome of the "spare limb": one case

We describe a case of a brain-damaged patient who had a peculiar bodily illusion which could not be labelled an hallucination but seemed somatognosically and phenomenologically similar to the phantom limb without amputation. The patient, who showed left hemiplegia, felt a third upper limb (without seeing it) which he himself defined as "spare." The spare limb was not deformed; it could be moved and controlled by the patient, and there was no sensation of pain. The patient did not show psychopathological or cognitive disorders. A possible interpretation of the phenomenon is as a "phantom movement" of the paralysed limb: the mental representation of the movement of the limb was dissociated from the bodily representation of his own limb and so was still present in his consciousness despite the paralysis.     

Preliminary remarks on type of task and delay in children's prospective memory

This study investigated the extent to which the type of task influences children's prospective memory performance. 80 subjects, aged 7 to 11 yr. participated in an experiment in which the type of task (time-based vs event-based) and the retention interval (5 min. vs 10 min.) varied. The prospective memory task was embedded in a principal task lasting about 15 min. and required subjects perform an action at a given time or in response to a specific cue. Analysis indicated that the delay was associated with prospective memory performance only on a time-based task in which the intention has to be performed after 10 min. but not age. Analysis indicated also that time monitoring was associated with shorter latency between the target time and the execution of the intention on the time-based task. Implications were discussed.     

Sleep Disorders and Cognitive Dysfunctions in Parkinson’s Disease: A Meta-Analytic Study

Neuropsychology Review - A relationship between sleep disorders and cognitive dysfunctions was reported in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), however, some studies did not confirm the link. A...     

Mandatory Integration Measures and Differential Inclusion: The Italian Case

Since 2012 migrants arriving regularly in Italy must sign an integration agreement and declare their agreement with a ‘Charter of the values’. Insufficient integration (measured through a point-based system) results in deportation. While the point-based system discriminates against the poor, the less educated and qualified, the subordinate workers, and the nomads, the Charter is inspired by stereotypical and stigmatizing visions of Islam. This paper identifies the cases of discrimination, both legal (freedom of thought, presumption of innocence, principle of non-discrimination, right to an effective remedy, laicism of state) and symbolical, of the integration agreement, and analyses Italian integration measures before the background of the concept of differential inclusion: the incorporation of regular migrants requires them to pass under a symbolic and legal yoke, which increases their hierarchical differentiation. The integration agreement is also analyzed with regard to its relationship with border controls and with the concepts of ‘illegalization’ and ‘deportability’.