Extinction-induced "despair" in aged and adult rats: links to neurotrophins in frontal cortex and hippocampus

In the search for animal models of human geriatric depression, we found that operant extinction of escape from water results in the expression of immobility in different age groups, indicative of behavioral "despair", which was also associated with the resistance-to-extinction (RTE) expressed by these animals. With respect to the neurotrophin hypothesis of depression, nerve-growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) protein levels in frontal cortex (FC) and hippocampus (HP) were examined and related to behavioral immobility and RTE in the water maze in aged and adult Wistar rats. Age-related increases in levels of NGF were found in HP and of NT-3 in FC. Indices of immobility showed relationships in the aged with NGF and, in adults, with BDNF, pointing to a dissociation of neurotrophic involvement in extinction trial-induced "despair" in aged and adult rats. The present results support the hypothesis, that extinction-induced immobility in the water maze reflects a state akin to behavioral despair and point to age-related differences of neurotrophic involvement in depressive-like symptoms. The concept of extinction-induced behavioral "despair" in the aged subsumes several aspects of human geriatric depression, such as co-morbidity of learning impairment and anxiety, and, thus could represent a useful paradigm to examine the neuronal mechanisms underlying depression, especially in aged rodents.     

A Comparison of Help Giving to Individuals Versus Humanitarian Organizations1

The theories of social conduct, seriousness of need, and similarity; cost–benefit models; and individual differences in ideology are used to predict self‐reported help giving that is interpersonal or through humanitarian organizations. The results indicate that persons tend to be more helpful interpersonally than through organizations, are more responsive to characteristics of the needy when helping interpersonally than through organizations, and have stronger affective responses toward individuals than toward individuals represented by organizations. For both interpersonal and organization‐mediated assistance, perceived benefit to the donor strongly predicts help giving. Relatively conservative persons report less helpfulness, both interpersonally and through humanitarian organizations. Collectively, these findings offer an integrative approach to help giving and have implications for fundraising in the humanitarian sector.     

Pilot study of light therapy and neurocognitive performance of attention and memory in healthy subjects

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether light therapy improves healthy subjects' neurocognitive performance of attention, memory, and language. Ten subjects were treated with white bright light for 5 days and a control group of 10 with no treatment were assessed with a battery of neurocognitive tests which included the Stroop Colour Word Interference Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, the Story Recall Test, and the Word Pairs Recall Test. Analysis showed improvements in cognitive scores in both groups, although on all the cognitive tests the mean difference scores between baseline and endpoint were significantly larger in the light-treated group. These preliminary results suggest that short-term bright light may exert beneficial effects on cognitive functions.     

Trauma-Worlds and the Wisdom of Marion Woodman

Growing up traumatized means that survival systems are activated in both our minds and bodies. As a result, our lives become rooted in a different biological and psychological reality. I've called this parallel reality a “trauma-world.” At its core are fearfulness, disconnection, and shame. If a trauma-world is formed during childhood, it becomes our normality, whereupon we are unconscious of its impact on our lives. However, without consciousness, healing is impossible.

?Marion Woodman articulated the dynamics of trauma in a visceral and potent way, helping to bring trauma-worlds into consciousness. As importantly, together with dance educator Mary Hamilton and voice coach Ann Skinner, Woodman developed BodySoul Rhythms®, an embodied, creative, and integrative approach that can make a powerful contribution to healing.     

Working memory in healthy aging and in Parkinson’s disease: evidence of interference effects

Focusing on relevant information while suppressing the irrelevant one are critical abilities for different cognitive processes. However, their functioning has been scarcely investigated in the working memory (WM) domain, in both healthy and pathological conditions. The present research aimed to study these abilities in aging and Parkinson’s disease (PD), testing three groups of healthy participants (young, older and elderly) and one of PD patients, employing a new experimental paradigm. Results showed that the transient storing of irrelevant information in WM causes substantial interference effects, which were remarkable in elderly individuals on both response latency and accuracy. Interestingly, PD patients responded faster and were equally accurate compared to a matched control group. Taken together, findings confirm the existence of similar mechanisms for orienting attention inwards to WM contents or outwards to perceptual stimuli, and suggest the suitability of our task to assess WM functioning in both healthy aging and PD.     

Attachment, assessment, and psychological intervention: a case study of anorexia

Attachment patterns and personality dimensions have always been considered important to the development and adaptation of the individual. The first aim of this article was to address some basic questions about the place of attachment in a multimethod assessment when compiling a complete picture of the patient's personality functioning. The second aim was to present the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP; George & West, 2001) as a valid and productive assessment measure. Based on a single case study of an anorexic young woman, the article demonstrates how the AAP is integrated with the Rorschach Comprehensive System (Exner, 1991, 1993) and other assessment tools in both the assessment and in developing a treatment plan.     

The Affect in Play Scale: confirmatory factor analysis in elementary school children

The aim of this paper was to study the construct validity of the Affect in Play Scale, an empirically based measure of pretend play, in a group of 519 Italian children ages 6 to 10 years. In confirmatory factor analysis, a correlated two-factor structure with a cognitive and an affective factor was identified. Possible differences in factor scores by sex and age were investigated but no significant differences were found.     

A philosophy of labour: comparing A. V. Lunačarskij and S. Brzozowski

At the end of 1907 within a couple of months Lunačarskij met both Gor’kij and Brzozowski in Italy and found many important points of contact with each. To compare Lunačarskij’s thought at that time with Brzozowski’s “philosophical program” of 1907 casts some new light on the great variety of interpretations that enlivened Easter European Marxism at the beginning of the twentieth century. On the one hand, it explains Lunačarskij’s “economism” as distinct both from Brzozowski’s extreme anthropologism and Gor’kij’s “cosmism”; on the other, it shows that Lunačarskij’s “philosophy of labour” promoted a violent attitude of conquest and humankind’s domination of nature. Although he criticized Brzozowski’s sympathies with German Idealism, Lunačarskij shared with him a deep appreciation of human creative power, which is evident in his peculiar form of collectivism as well.