Processing of metaphoric and non-metaphoric alternative meanings of words after right- and left-hemispheric lesion

This study examines the specificity of the contribution of the right hemisphere to the processing of metaphoric meaning of words. Ten right- and 10 left-hemisphere-damaged subjects, and 20 normal control subjects were submitted to: (1) a word-triad task where they had to associate alternative metaphoric and non-metaphoric words to a target word, and to (2) a word-dyad task where they had to decide whether or not there was a semantic relationship between two words. The two tasks aimed at differentiating between the subjects' preference for a given semantic meaning versus a genuine semantic deficit for a particular meaning. Results revealed that both right- and left-hemisphere-damaged groups presented a genuine semantic deficit for the processing of metaphoric meaning. The absence of a double dissociation between the two brain-damaged groups does not support the hypothesis of a specific contribution of the right-hemisphere to the processing of metaphoric meaning of words.     

Social value related response latencies: Unobtrusive evidence for individual differences in information processing

While much research concerning decision-making in interdependency situations concentrates on the influence of social values or different preferences for certain distributions of outcomes for self and other (McClintock, 1978), little attention has been paid to the cognitive processes underlying the expression of these different social values. The present research focuses on the cognitive processes by examining the influence of the dominant social values on decision-makers' response latencies (RLs) in interdependency situations. Using the Ring Measure of Social Values (Liebrand 1984), three experiments were conducted to assess these RLs. Experiment 1 examines the reliability of the social value construct and the RL effect. Experiments 2 and 3 investigate the generality of the RL effect across presentation of combinations of own and other's outcomes (all positive versus all negative). As predicted, RLs were shorter for individualists than for cooperators and competitors. Further, regardless of values, shorter RLs occurred across experiments when own outcomes are positive rather than negative. More important, the predicted interaction between social value and outcome distribution was observed, reflecting increasing RLs for cooperators as their joint outcomes decreased, longer RLs for individualists when own outcomes were negative rather than positive, and longer RLs for competitors when they were outcome disadvantaged rather than advantaged relative to other. These findings are consistent with the expectation that (I) the transformations associated with different social values require different cognitive processes, and (2) subsequent to the value transformations of outcomes, RLs increase when the utility of the transformed outcome distributions decreases.     

Crying in Middle Childhood: A Report on Gender Differences

The aims of this study were (1) to confirm gender differences in crying in middle childhood and (2) to identify factors that may explain why girls cry more than boys in a Dutch sample (North Holland and Utrecht). We examined 186 children's (age: 9-13?years) self-reports on crying, catharsis, seeking support for feelings, and internalizing feelings. Girls reported a greater crying frequency and crying proneness, and more emotional and physical catharsis after crying. In addition, they more frequently sought support for feelings and more often experienced sadness and somatic complaints than boys. Seeking help for negative feelings and the experience of sadness and somatic complaints were positively associated with crying frequency and crying proneness. Emotional catharsis was positively linked to crying proneness. Support was found for the potential mediating role of sadness and somatic complaints with respect to the gender difference in crying frequency and for the potential mediating role of emotional catharsis and somatic complaints for crying proneness. This study demonstrates that gender differences in crying frequency already exist in middle childhood and the findings suggest a linkage between these gender differences in crying and psychosocial factors.     

A treadmill and motion coupled virtual reality system for gait training post-stroke.

A virtual reality (VR)-based locomotor training system has been developed for gait rehabilitation post-stroke. The system consists of a self-paced treadmill mounted onto a 6-degrees-of-freedom motion platform. Virtual environments (VEs) that are synchronized with the speed of the treadmill and the motions of the platform are rear-projected onto a screen in front of the walking subject. A feasibility study was conducted to test the capability of two stroke patients and one healthy control to be trained with the system. Three VE scenarios (corridor walking, street crossing, and park stroll) were woven into a gait-training program that provided three levels of complexity (walking speed, slopes, collision avoidances), progression criteria (number of successful trials) and knowledge of results. Results show that, with practice, patients can effectively increase their gait speed as demanded by the task and adapt their gait with respect to the change in physical terrain. However, successful completion of tasks requiring adaptation to increasing demands related to speed and physical terrains does not necessarily predict the patient's ability to anticipate and avoid collision with obstacles during walking. This feasibility study demonstrates that persons with stroke are able to adapt to this novel VR system and be immersed in the VEs for gait training.     

How Gender Counts When Couples Count Their Money

In this study we explored the ways in which men's and women's personal incomes are treated and experienced differently in the family. Two hundred and fourteen participants (102 men and 112 women) in dual-earner couples were recruited in a random sample telephone survey. Participants reported a double standard in which women receive more praise than men for their incomes. Men reported stronger negative and positive feelings about their incomes than women. Regardless of gender, the higher the participants' income category the more gratitude they received from spouses and the more appreciated they felt. Wives' absolute incomes elicited husbands' gratitude, whereas husbands' relative incomes influenced wives' gratitude. Women who outearned their husbands reported no negative consequences. Although money still carries gendered meaning, women's incomes may earn increasing clout in the family. The ways in which praise, criticism, and gratitude for earnings provide a window on how gender is done and undone in the family are discussed.     

Intrusiveness of Minorities: Growing Pains for the Majority Group?1

In this paper, we examined the impact of the numerical representation and the intrusiveness of immigrants on feelings of group threat voiced by the majority. The present evaluation of group threat differs from previous studies in its inclusion of temporal comparisons. The relationship between feelings of threat and attitudes toward immigration was also evaluated. In all, 221 college students completed a questionnaire. As predicted, results obtained show that numerical representation was positively associated with feelings of group threat resulting from invidious social comparisons. Intrusiveness was positively related to feelings of group threat resulting from temporal comparisons. Contrary to hypotheses, the final model confirms that only feelings of temporal group threat were associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. Practical implications and the important role of temporal comparisons are discussed.     

Women and Alcoholism: A Biopsychosocial Perspective and Treatment Approaches

Viewing alcoholism in women from a biopsychosocial perspective reveals a unique set of circumstances and challenges that women alcoholics face when compared with men. Biologically, women react differently to alcohol ingestion than do men. Women reach higher blood alcohol levels and sustain more somatic and cognitive damage than men when consuming equivalent amounts of alcohol. Psychosocially, women alcoholics face societal rebuke and chastisement of a greater magnitude than do men. Finally, barriers to treatment faced by women, such as the need for child care, cost of treatment, familial opposition, denial of alcoholism, and inadequate diagnostic training of physicians, must be overcome to create successful treatment approaches for the female alcoholic. Obstacles to and implications for treatment are also discussed.     

Coupling and decoupling of unfairness and anger in ultimatum bargaining

Although previous research has demonstrated the importance of emotions in ultimatum bargaining, this research provides a more direct, convergent test of the role of anger in explaining rejections of unfair offers in ultimatum bargaining. First, using appraisal theory of emotions, this research examines the extent to which the cognitive appraisal of unfairness leads to the emotion of anger, which in turn, drives punitive behavior (i.e., rejection of offers). Second, this research explores the possibility of decoupling the emotion of anger from its antecedent appraisal of unfairness in order to attenuate responders' inclination to reject unfair offers. Third, following the current research tradition that goes beyond a valence‐based approach, we differentiate between the negative emotions of anger and sadness and examine whether it is the specific emotion of anger that is relevant to the cognitive appraisal of unfairness or the general negative valence of the emotion. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Zen and psychotherapy: East meets west on the road to enlightenment

Major psychoanalytic theorists have seen transcendental states as regressive and/ or unconscious, overlooking the similarities of purpose and process between psychoanalytic psychotherapies and contemplative religions. This article examines the similarities and differences between psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Zen and proposes that on the whole the similarities outweigh the differences and that some of the presumed differences have been based upon semantic misunderstanding.