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.     

Marital Breakdown,Shame, and Suicidality in Men: A Direct Link?

The influence of feelings of shame originating from marital breakdown on suicidality is examined. The role of mental health problems as probable mediating factors is also considered. Internalized shame, state (related to separation) shame, and mental health problems were significantly correlated with the score for suicidality during separation in both genders. Tested structural equation model indicated that internalized shame was not directly linked to suicidality, but was mediated either by state shame or mental health problems in males in the context of separation. Our findings seem to indicate that separated males are more vulnerable to the experience of state shame in the context of separation, which might lead to the development of suicidality.     

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.     

South American Children’s Quality of Life: Intra-Urban Disparities along Life-Cycle Indicators

Applied Research in Quality of Life - By 2015, 80% of the population in South America was living in urban areas. Although children in urban areas, on average, enjoy better conditions than children...     

The Representation of Imagery of the City: The Impact of Studies and Imagery Ability

This study aimed to assess the impact of the type of undergraduate studies and the ability to form mental images on representations of city imagery. A total of 291 Architecture and Business Studies undergraduates participated in the study. Participants completed a 5‐min task of drawing their own mental map of a city. The number of point marks, line marks, and area marks drawn and the system of representation were assessed. Business Studies undergraduates represented more point marks using a point than Architecture undergraduates, whereas the latter drew more point marks in plan and in 3D than the former. The ability to form spatial images had no influence on the number of point, line, or area marks drawn. Significant differences between women and men were observed in the 3D representations, and in the configuration.     

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.