Influence of training on maintenance of equilibrium on a tilting platform

To assess the influence of training on the maintenance of equilibrium on a tilting platform, 13 young healthy male athletes aged 19 to 33 years were randomly divided into experimental (n=7) and control (n=6) groups. Two experimental sessions were performed before and after a specific 4-wk. training by the experimental group. Subjects stood upright on a tilting platform. The athletes were asked to maintain the platform as horizontal as possible during a 30-sec. test. The three-dimensional movements of the platform versus the ground were recorded by using a computerized optoelectronic digitiser. The platform plane was calculated and its directrix computed. The area of oscillation and instantaneous angular velocity of the directrix at standardized height were calculated. In both groups the area of oscillation and the angular velocity were reduced in Session 2, but the reduction was significant only in the experimental group. Specific training can significantly improve skill at maintaining equilibrium in young healthy sport performers.     

Mirroring Activity in the Brain and Movement Determinant in the Rorschach Test

Human movement (M) responses to the Rorschach are related to cognitive sophistication, creativity, and empathy. Recent studies also link Ms to EEG-mu suppression, an index of mirroring activity in the brain. In this article, we further investigate the link between Ms and mu suppression by testing some clinical interpretative distinctions. Previously collected EEG data recorded during the administration of the Rorschach were reanalyzed. We hypothesized that (a) among several responses investigated, only M would be associated with mu suppression, and (b) Ms with active movement, ordinary form quality, or whole human figures would be most strongly associated with mu suppression. Hypothesis 1 was fully confirmed, thus supporting that the traditional interpretation of M has a neurobiological foundation. Hypothesis 2 was partially confirmed; that is, active Ms were associated with mu suppression more strongly than passive Ms (p < .05), but no other significant differences emerged. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Preface to Opicinus de Canistris: concluding lecture by C.G. Jung,Eranos, Ascona, 1943 and Further studies on Jung's Eranos seminar on Opicinus de Canistris

In 1943, Jung held a seminar at Eranos for a limited number of students dedicated to ‘solar myths’, which were exemplified specifically in the cartographic art of Opicinus de Canistris (c. 1296–1352). This seminar has stayed out of print until a few years ago. Notes taken during the seminar by one of Jung's students, Alwine von Keller (1878–1965), were discovered in the Eranos archives and published. Now, for the first time ever, the notes of another of his students, Rivkah Schärf Kluger, taken during the same seminar, are being published. This second series of notes are more extensive. They complete the first series by adding many features and so allow us to put together a more complete picture of Jung's seminar. James Hillman, who received these notes from William McGuire in 1976, firmly believed that they were important enough to be published. Now, seventy years after this seminar, thanks to the support of the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung, the Eranos Foundation and the Journal of Analytical Psychology, these notes are finally being published.     

Defying Unjust Authority: An Exploratory Study

This research explores the psychological factors potentially involved in fostering disobedience to an unjust authority. Our paradigm was modeled after that of the Utrecht Studies on Obedience (Meeus and Raaijmakers European Journal of Social Psychology 16:311-324, 1986) in which participants are ordered to give each of 15 increasingly hostile comments to a participant/victim whenever he fails a trial. Although 30% of our sample followed commands to insult the other participant (confederate), the majority did refuse to do so at some point in the escalating hostility sequence. Our procedure utilized conditions known from prior research to increase the ratio of disobedience to obedience: proximity of teacher to learner plus remote authority. In order to better understand some of the cognitive and affective processes that may predict such defiant behaviour, we utilized a variety of measures, among them, behavioural observations, individual difference assessments, and in depth post-experimental interviews.     

Horizontal and vertical Simon effect: different underlying mechanisms?

Reaction times are usually faster when stimulus and response occur at the same location than when they do not, even if stimulus location is irrelevant to the task (Simon effect). This effect was found with both horizontal and vertical stimulus-response arrangements. The same mechanisms have been proposed to be involved in either case. Here, we compared a horizontal and a vertical Simon task by means of a RT time-course analysis of the Simon effect. Also, we analysed the lateralised readiness potential (LRP), an index of covert response-preparation processes. In the horizontal task, the Simon effect decays over time and pre-activation occurs above the motor cortex ipsilateral to the stimulus. In contrast, the Simon effect does not decay over time and no early incorrect LRP deflection is observed in the vertical task. These findings suggest that typical activation accounts can fit only the horizontal Simon effect, while a translation explanation is more suitable for the vertical Simon effect.     

Assessment of Alexithymia With the Rorschach Comprehensive System: The Rorschach Alexithymia Scale (RAS)

The Bene-Anthony Family Relations Test was administered to twenty normal, twenty-seven school disordered, and ten institutionalized emotionally disturbed preadolescent boys. Significant differences were obtained between and within groups. The more disturbed children tended to report more positive perceptions of family relationships, particularly their relationships with their oldest siblings. However, institutionalized children tended to perceive themselves more negatively than normal or school disordered children in the context of family relationships. Normal children, but not institutionalized children, tended to perceive their relationships with their oldest siblings as significantly more negative than their relationships to their parents. The data were interpreted as reflecting sibling rivalry and the operation of psychodynamic defenses.     

Confidence Distribution for the Ability Parameter of the Rasch Model

Psychometrika - In this paper, we consider the Rasch model and suggest novel point estimators and confidence intervals for the ability parameter. They are based on a proposed confidence...     

Introduction to the special issue on personality assessment in medical settings

This special issue of the Journal of Personality Assessment brings together 3 review articles and 5 research studies on personality assessment in medical settings that should help clinicians become more familiar with the current status of this field. In 1 review article, Sirri, Fabbri, Fava, and Sonino (2007/this issue) summarize evidence of a new approach to the assessment of psychological syndromes in somatizing patients based on the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (Fava et al., 1995). The other reviews focus on 2 personality constructs widely used in investigations with medical patients. Kupper and Denollet (2007/this issue) review the Type D personality, whereas Lumley, Neely, and Burger (2007/this issue) provide an overview of alexithymia. Of the research articles, 2 also focus on alexithymia, specifically on the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994), which is the best-validated and most commonly used measure of alexithymia (Bagby, Taylor, Quilty, & Parker, 2007/this issue; Gignac, Palmer, & Stough, 2007/this issue). The other 3 research studies examine the relationship between specific personality dimensions (behavioral problems relevant to medicine, resiliency, and interpersonal sensitivity) and medical outcomes (adherence to treatment, coping with injury, and postsurgical sexual functioning) from medical samples of patients with HIV, spinal cord injury, and prostate carcinoma (Berry, Elliott, & Rivera, 2007/this issue; Cruess, Meagher, Antoni, & Millon, 2007/this issue; Siegel et al., 2007/this issue). Each article touches on the role person variables can play in the expression of medical problems.     

A Program to Select Sentences with a Strong Psychological Impact

This article presents a program based on the Elementary Pragmatic Model and on the administration of a test consisting of 90 sentences with a strong psychological impact interactively presented to participants. Data emerging from this procedure are calculated according to four coordinates and 16 relational functions processed on a grid defined by a table of 256 possible interactions. From these interactions three final states were found to constitute essentially the bottom line of the human mind. The program indicates how certain sentences could be selected systematically to lead initially deviant participants toward more statistically average patterns, in terms of coordinates, functions, interactions, and final states.