Motor Development During the First Year: A Comparative Study

This investigation of the motor development characteristics of Brazilian infants during the 1st year of postnatal life compared the findings with those of a widely used U.S. sample (N. Bayley, 1993). Analysis of the 12 monthly assessments indicated that Brazilian infants' scores increased with age, with the greatest increase occurring over the first 8 months. As a general comparison, the results are similar to the U.S. patterns of development. However, the Brazilian sample exhibited mean scores significantly lower than the U.S. sample's in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th months. More specific analyses indicated that the difference within these months was on tasks of sitting and grasping. Possible explanations for the differences focus on variations in child-rearing practices and the influence of biological maturation in early movement behaviors.     

Family routines and rituals in the context of chronic conditions: A review

This paper is a systematic review of 39 empirical studies on family routines and rituals in the context of a chronic condition of a family member. The search strategy encompassed a wide spectrum of chronic conditions affecting family members from childhood/adolescence to adulthood. Twenty quantitative, 13 qualitative, 3 mixed‐methods, and 3 intervention studies published between 1995 and 2012 were reviewed. A conceptual framework of routines and rituals as key elements of family health was adopted, resulting in three main findings. First, a chronic condition in a family member impacted the frequency and nature of family's routines and rituals. Second, these whole‐family interactions held important functions for individuals and families, constituting strategic resources in the condition's management and opportunities for emotional support exchanges, and providing the family with a sense of normalcy amid the challenges posed by chronic conditions. Third, family routines and rituals were linked to positive health and adaptation outcomes for both patients and family members. Implications for future research include the need for the distinction between routines and rituals against a conceptual background, use of validated assessment methods, and empirical examination of predictors of changes in routines and rituals throughout the course of the condition and of the mechanisms linking these family events to positive outcomes. Conclusions support the inclusion of routines and rituals in a family‐centered care approach to the understanding and treatment of chronic conditions.     

La interpretación asociativa del proceso creador

Resumen

Este trabajo es una revisión de las aportaciones a la psicología de la creatividad, que proceden de las interpretaciones asociativas del proceso creador.

Las referencias introspectivas de los individuos excepcionalmente creadores en el ámbito científico, literario o artístico han servido de argumento a los teóricos del proceso asociativo, por ello se hace una referencia a estos trabajos en la primera parte del artículo, para, posteriormente, centrar la revisión en el análisis de la teoría asociativa de Mednick, como la más elaborada y sistemática de cuantas aportaciones se han hecho a la definición del pensamiento creador como un proceso asociativo. Se ofrecen datos del propio grupo de Mednick sobre argumentos empíricos de validación de la teoría y se plantean las limitaciones de la validez de la misma en relación con el instrumento de evaluación de la aptitud creadora en términos asociativos: el «Remote Associated Test».     

Cerebellum and processing of negative facial emotions: Cerebellar transcranial DC stimulation specifically enhances the emotional recognition of facial anger and sadness

Some evidence suggests that the cerebellum participates in the complex network processing emotional facial expression. To evaluate the role of the cerebellum in recognising facial expressions we delivered transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. A facial emotion recognition task was administered to 21 healthy subjects before and after cerebellar tDCS; we also tested subjects with a visual attention task and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for mood. Anodal and cathodal cerebellar tDCS both significantly enhanced sensory processing in response to negative facial expressions (anodal tDCS, p=.0021; cathodal tDCS, p=.018), but left positive emotion and neutral facial expressions unchanged (p>.05). tDCS over the right prefrontal cortex left facial expressions of both negative and positive emotion unchanged. These findings suggest that the cerebellum is specifically involved in processing facial expressions of negative emotion.     

Perversion on the other side of the couch

Abstract

Taking as his starting point the fact that, according to Freudian theory, perversion is inherent to the human being, the author focuses upon an aspect of perversion that has been little discussed: perversion on the other side of the couch, and thereby questions of how, in psychoanalytic theoretical and clinical practice, perverted drive motions may be presented. Such a phenomenon takes various forms: actually being enacted with patients; using psychoanalytic theory as a normative rule; the individual choice of profession and so forth. To exemplify his point of view, the author presents four different expressions of sexuality in Freudian theory: genital sexuality, perverted sexuality, the sexuality of the Ideals and narcissistic sexuality. After differentiating these four sexual expressions, the author shows how each of them may generate perversion in both clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis.

Ceccarelli P Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch

Indem er als Ausgangspunkt die Tatsache nimmt, daß entsprechend der Freudianischen Theorie Perversion dem menschlichen Sein inhärent ist, fokussiert der Autor auf einen Aspekt der Perversion, der wenig diskutiert wurde: Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch und damit Fragen, wie in der psychoanalytischen und klinischen Praxis pervertierte Triebbewegungen dargestellt werden können. Ein solches Phänomen zeigt sich in verschiedenartigen Formen: tatsächlich mit Patienten in Szene gesetzt; im Gebrauch psychoanalytischer Theorie als einer normativen Regel; die individuelle Wahl des Berufs und so weiter. Um seinen Standpunkt zu exempifizieren, stellt der Autor vier verschiedene Ausdrücke von Sexualität in der Freudianischen Theorie dar: genitale Sexualität; perverse Sexiualität; die Sexualität der Ideale; und narzißtische Sexualität. Nach einer Differenzierung dieser vier Ausdrücke für Sexualität zeigt der Autor, wie jeder von ihnen Perversion in klinischer und theoretischer Psychoanalyse generieren kann.

Ceccarelli P. Perversión del otro lado del diván.

Tomando como punto de partida el hecho de que de acuerdo a la teoría Freudiana la perversión es inherente al ser humano, el autor se enfoca en un aspecto de la perversión que ha sido muy poco discutido: la perversión del otro lado del diván, se pregunta cómo en la práctica psicoanalítica clínica y teórica, algunos impulsos pervertidos pueden estar presentes. Un fenómeno así puede tomar diversas formas: pasos al acto con pacientes, usar la teoría psicoanalítica como regla normativa, la elección individual de profesión y así. Para ejemplificar su punto de vista, el autor presenta cuatro diferentes expresiones de la sexualidad en la teoría freudiana: la sexualidad genital, sexualidad pervertida, la sexualidad de los Ideales, y la sexualidad narcisista. Además de diferenciar estas cuatro expresiones sexuales, el autor demuestra como cada una de estas formas puede generar perversión en el psicoanálisis clínico y teórico.     

Anomalous spin diffusion in 3He films: Expected behaviour in two-dimensional Fermi liquids

It is shown that the recently observed and unexplained behaviour for spin diffusion in ³He films can be understood in terms of the Fermi-liquid theory, provided that non-perturbative effects characteristic of two dimensions are taken into account. It is conjectured that such a behaviour suggests the onset of a regime in which spin current is conserved.     

Does Gender Affect Visiting a World Heritage Site?

ABSTRACT

The city of Guimarães in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimarães as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city's World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimarães. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.     

Exploring the perception of social characteristics in faces using the isolation effect

The age, sex, and distinctiveness of faces can be judged from objective and partially independent facial features. In contrast, the physical basis of other social judgements, such as attractiveness, intelligence, and trustworthiness is not as yet entirely understood, despite the consistency of these judgements from faces. The present set of experiments investigated the perception of social characteristics in faces, using an adaptation of the von Restorff/isolation paradigm to determine which social characteristics are spontaneously encoded from the face. The isolation effect involves enhanced memory for perceptually salient items in a list (items that are isolated in the sense that they are in numeric minority) and our results suggested that its locus is at the encoding stage of the recognition memory experiment. Isolation in the present experiments was achieved by manipulating the number of faces included in the sets on the basis of certain characteristics. Because the manipulation of the characteristics of faces in a set to be learnt was not mentioned in most of the experiments, any resulting memory increment for the isolated items could be taken as an index of spontaneous processing of the manipulated social characteristic. Age and sex were found to be spontaneously encoded from faces. Results for other characteristics were mixed, ranging from distinctiveness and attractiveness, for which there was some indication of spontaneous processing, to intelligence and trustworthiness, which did not seem to be spontaneously encoded from faces. For intelligence, an isolation effect was found only when the experiment required a judgement that led to activation of the appropriate stereotype.     

Holistic reasoning on the other side of the world: validation of the analysis-holism scale in Mexicans

The universality of cognitive processes has been called into question. Research suggests that individuals from Eastern cultures (e.g., China, Korea) when compared to individuals from Western cultures (e.g., the United States) prefer to reason holistically. This line of research has not been extended to cultural groups far removed from cultures traditionally surveyed in cross-cultural research such as Hispanics. We conducted two studies to understand: 1) the generalizability of the construct of holistic reasoning in Mexicans, and 2) the preferred reasoning style of Mexicans when compared to U.S. Americans. Results support the generalization of the factor structure of holistic reasoning as originally hypothesized by Choi, Koo, and Choi (2007). The results of Study 2 suggest that Mexicans scored higher than U.S. Americans on certain aspects of holistic reasoning.