The Role of Sensory Perception,Emotionality and <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Lifeworld</Emphasis> in Auditory Word Processing: Evidence from Congenital Blindness and Synesthesia

Although it has been established that human beings process concrete and abstract words differently, it is still a matter of debate what factors contribute to this difference. Since concrete concepts are closely tied to sensory perception, perceptual experience seems to play an important role in their processing. The present study investigated the processing of nouns during an auditory lexical decision task. Participants came from three populations differing in their visual-perceptual experience: congenitally blind persons, word-color synesthetes, and sighted non-synesthetes. Specifically, three features with potential relevance to concreteness were manipulated: sensory perception, emotionality, and Husserlian lifeworld, a concept related to the inner versus the outer world of the self. In addition to a classical concreteness effect, our results revealed a significant effect of lifeworld: words that are closely linked to the internal states of humans were processed faster than words referring to the outside world. When lifeworld was introduced as predictor, there was no effect of emotionality. Concerning participants’ perceptual experience, an interaction between participant group and item characteristics was found: the effects of both concreteness and lifeworld were more pronounced for blind compared to sighted participants. We will discuss the results in the context of embodied semantics, and we will propose an approach to concreteness based on the individual’s bodily experience and the relatedness of a given concept to the self.     

The impact of illness on the family and the family's impact on illness

This paper discusses the influence that familial relationships can have on illness and the way in which illness can impact on the functioning of the family system. Developmental phases of illness, the family life cycle and chronic illness are all examined in relation to the family and it's functioning. The way in which health behaviours are adopted within families, and behavioural and genetic predispositions to illness are also discussed.     

阅读困难可否补救? 两种理论驱动干预方案的比较(英文)

本研究是一个进行中的纵向实验的一部分,该实验旨在比较一个认知干预方案(PREP:PASS阅读促进方案)和一个主要关注语音、命名速度和意义成分的神经心理方案(DEST-RT:DEST补救工具)在阅读困难补救中的效能。从320位儿童构成的初始样本中,选择4组儿童,并一年级接受四周干预后,对他们在许多认知、语言、阅读和正字法测量上的表现进行比较:两个实验组共28名伴有阅读困难的儿童(每组n=14),平均年龄6岁6个月,分配到PREP和DEST-RT补救方案中,两组儿童基于年龄、性别、父母教育水平、非言语和言语能力进行匹配,同时也考虑他们的认知和语言表现剖面;一个阅读水平匹配组(RA-C,n=19),也存在阅读困难,不接受任何处理;一个实足年龄匹配组(CA-C,n=30)。结果表明,所有四组儿童在所有认知、语言、阅读和正字法测量上均随时间而改善;与CA-C和DEST-RT相比,PREP组在继时性加工上进步显著;在正字法选择,这一在单词加工中利用视觉-字形信息的正字法加工任务上,PREP组的表现也优于DEST-RT组;最后,在语音敏感性、字母数字的RAN、单词阅读(真词和假词)及段落理解等方面,PREP和DEST-RT的表现均显著优于CA-C和RA-C。讨论部分,则着重讨论设计理论驱动的低成本且能有效改善阅读表现的补救方案的必要性。     

“I will accept whatever is meant for us. I wait for that—day and night”: The search for healing at a Muslim shrine in Pakistan

This paper describes an ethnographic perspective on the role of a Muslim shrine in Pakistan. Most shrines in Muslim countries represent the Sufi tradition in Islam where followers seek healing and fulfilment of their wishes using Sufi saints as intermediaries. In Pakistan, the shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ashabi provides a significant religious, social, physical, and psychological resource where people engage in religious rituals, community living and healing rituals to address physical, emotional, and social ailments. In addition to the explanatory models of misfortune described by the informants, gender, poverty, availability of formal health services, and social support seem to play a significant role in emphasizing the position of the Sufi shrine in a Muslim setting.     

Strength training effects on physical conditioning and instep kick kinematics in young amateur soccer players during preseason

The purpose of this study was to examine effects of lower limb strength training on physical conditioning and kinematic characteristics of instep kicking in 16 young amateur soccer players who participated in initial and final laboratory tests. In addition to their standard preseason soccer program, 8 players comprised the experimental group, who performed an 8-wk. strength-training program. Maximal and relative isometric force of the lower limbs were significantly improved. Moreover, toe and ankle linear velocity during ball contact, ball velocity, as well as ankle, knee and hip angular velocities of the kicking leg were significantly increased. It is concluded that conditioning and kinematic indices of the kicking performance could be improved after strength training of the lower limbs.     

Working with refugee families in Greece: systemic considerations

When refugee families leave their country of origin, they may also leave behind their culture and support systems but not their abilities to overcome the emerging adversities. This article addresses issues concerning the process of refugee families' ‘acculturation’ and adaptation to their new setting in Greek society. It attempts to develop culture‐sensitive approaches to family therapy based on narrative perspectives and inspired by Pike's ‘‐emic and ‐etic’ distinction. It discusses the innovative methods developed by the therapeutic team of the Greek Council for Refugees which included the use of ‘cultural therapeutic mediators’ and others in an endeavour to access the overlapping systems of refugee families in more effective ways.     

Noncategorical approaches to feature prediction with uncertain categories

In four experiments, we investigated how people make feature predictions about objects whose category membership is uncertain. Artificial visual categories were presented and remained in view while a novel instance with a known feature, but uncertain category membership was presented. All four experiments showed that feature predictions about the test instance were most often based on feature correlations (referred to as feature conjunction reasoning). Experiment 1 showed that feature conjunction reasoning was generally preferred to category-based induction in a feature prediction task. Experiment 2 showed that people used all available exemplars to make feature conjunction predictions. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the preference for predictions based on feature conjunction persisted even when category-level information was made more salient and inferences involving a larger number of categories were required. Little evidence of reasoning based on the consideration of multiple categories (e.g., Anderson, (Psychological Review, 98:409–429, 1991)) or the single, most probable category (e.g., Murphy & Ross, (Cognitive Psychology, 27:148–193, 1994)) was found.     

Construct validity of the posttraumatic stress disorder checklist in cancer survivors: analyses based on two samples

The measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critically important for the identification and treatment of this disorder. The PTSD Checklist (PCL; F. W. Weathers and J. Ford, 1996) is a self-report measure that is increasingly used. In this study, the authors investigated the factorial validity of the PCL with data from 236 cancer survivors who received a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The authors examined the fit of these data with the clinical model of 3 symptom clusters for PTSD, as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and alternative models tested in prior research. By using confirmatory factor analysis the authors found that a 4-first-order-factor model of PTSD provided the best fit. The relations of PTSD symptoms with sociodemographic and medical variables were also explored.     

Is teaching Jung within university possible?: a response to David Tacey

Until recently, Jungian psychology has been suspicious of academia and remained almost exclusively connected with analytical practice. Attempts by analytical psychologists towards a rapprochement have, by and large, failed because they were based either on inappropriate efforts to fit Jung within an unsuitable paradigm of science or on omnipotent expectations that academics accept the Jungian 'wisdom' unquestionably. By distinguishing two different Jungian epistemologies (an open and closed one) it is argued that the emergence of the new paradigm in social and human sciences (based on constructivist and non-essentialist ideas) offers now a unique opportunity to connect the epistemologically open Jung with these new developments in the academy. Thus, Jungians should now face the challenge of open dialogue with academics which can result in mutual benefit.