Integrating Dimensional and Discrete Theories of Emotions: A New Set of Anger- and Fear-Eliciting Stimuli for Children

The selection of appropriate stimuli for inducing specific emotional states has become one of the most challenging topics in psychological research. In the literature there is a lack of affective picture database specifically suited to investigate emotional response in children. Here the authors present the methodology that led us to create a new database (called Anger- and Fear-Eliciting Stimuli for Children) of affective stimuli inducing experiences of 3 target emotions (neutral, anger, and fear) to use in experimental session involving children. A total of 84 children were asked to (a) indicate the perceived emotion and its intensity and (b) rate the three affective dimensions of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Based on concordance between labeled and expected target emotion, the authors decided to select 15 stimuli to be included in Multivariate modeling techniques were applied to evaluate the association between expected target emotion and SAM ratings. The authors found that the hit rate for the neutral pictures was good (greater than 81%), for fear-eliciting pictures it was greater than 64%, and for anger-eliciting pictures it was moderate (between 45% and 56%). The study results reveal also an age effect only in the arousal scale. However, the authors did not find significant gender-related differences in SAM ratings.     

Self-induced vomiting in eating disorders: Associated features and treatment outcome

Self-induced vomiting is adopted by people with a variety of eating disorders (ED) to control body shape and weight. We tested the prevalence, the associated features and the role on treatment outcome of self-induced vomiting in 152 ED patients consecutively admitted to an inpatient cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT), based on the transdiagnostic CBT for ED. The Eating Disorder Examination, together with the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Temperament and Character Inventory were recorded at entry and at end of treatment. Self-induced vomiting was reported in 35.5% of cases, and 21.1% had multiple purging with vomiting. Individuals with vomiting and those with multiple purging had significantly higher BMI and a higher frequency of bulimic episodes, but individuals with multiple purging were also characterized by higher levels of depression, longer ED duration, more severe ED psychopathology and lower self-directness. Individuals with vomiting had higher eating concern and novelty seeking compared with those without purging behaviors. However, the three groups had similar dropout rates and outcomes in response to inpatient CBT, in keeping with the transdiagnostic theory of EDs.     

Evidence with uncertain likelihoods

An agent often has a number of hypotheses, and must choose among them based on observations, or outcomes of experiments. Each of these observations can be viewed as providing evidence for or against various hypotheses. All the attempts to formalize this intuition up to now have assumed that associated with each hypothesis h there is a likelihood function  μ _h , which is a probability measure that intuitively describes how likely each observation is, conditional on h being the correct hypothesis. We consider an extension of this framework where there is uncertainty as to which of a number of likelihood functions is appropriate, and discuss how one formal approach to defining evidence, which views evidence as a function from priors to posteriors, can be generalized to accommodate this uncertainty.     

Ramus and Other Renaissance Philosophers on Subjectivity

This paper considers philosophical approaches that are relevant to the intertwinement of logic, metaphysics, and psychology proposed by the Aquinas commentator Tommaso de Vio Cardinal Cajetan, the humanist Petrus Ramus, the pure Aristotelian Cornelius Martini, the Semi-Ramist Bartholomaeus Keckermann, and the lexicographer Rudolf Goclenius. Mostly, however, it is about Ramus and his followers, the Ramists, because of the role they played in exacerbating a discussion on the constitution of objectivity during the Renaissance that was to have an impact on Cartesian andpost-Cartesian theories of subjectivity. Finally, keeping in mind that Kant was familiar with the secunda Petri, i.e., with the second part of Ramus's logic, namely the theory of judgment, some common ground is recognizable between Ramus and Kant as well. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The body in the analytic session: focusing on the body-mind link

The author focuses on the importance of the body in the analysis of patients with a defect of thinking. In many cases this defect is not fully evident until concrete and bodily aspects begin to emerge in sessions. In the absence of awareness of the body, the patient's personality is deprived of the main source of emotional stimulus, and mental growth is consequently paralysed. Hence the body is considered the starting point of mental processes and a progressive source of experience requiring the exercise of responsibility and thought. To indicate the theoretical background to this essentially clinical paper, some hypotheses about the body-mind link are very briefly considered. Specific emphasis is given to the development of Freud-Klein-Bionian theories about this subject and to some of Ferrari 's recent proposals. The author discusses four clinical cases, emphasizing the encounter with the body in analysis and its integration in emotional and thinking processes. The analyst's function in such cases is conceived mainly as that of midwife for a dialogue between the analysand 's body and mind.     

Reversing the picture superiority effect: A speed—accuracy trade-off study of recognition memory

Speed-accuracy trade-off methods have been used to contrast single- and dual-process accounts of recognition memory. With these procedures, subjects are presented with individual test items and required to make recognition decisions under various time constraints. In three experiments, we presented words and pictures to be intentionally learned; test stimuli were always visually presented words. At test, we manipulated the interval between the presentation of each test stimulus and that of a response signal, thus controlling the amount of time available to retrieve target information. The standard picture superiority effect was significant in long response deadline conditions (i.e., > or = 2,000 msec). Conversely, a significant reverse picture superiority effect emerged at short response-signal deadlines (< 200 msec). The results are congruent with views suggesting that both fast familiarity and slower recollection processes contribute to recognition memory. Alternative accounts are also discussed.     

One process is not enough! A speed-accuracy tradeoff study of recognition memory

Speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) methods have been used to contrast single- and dual-process accounts of recognition memory. In these procedures, subjects are presented with individual test items and are required to make recognition decisions under various time constraints. In this experiment, we presented word lists under incidental learning conditions, varying the modality of presentation and level of processing. At test, we manipulated the interval between each visually presented test item and a response signal, thus controlling the amount of time available to retrieve target information. Study— test modality match had a beneficial effect on recognition accuracy at short response-signal delays (≤300msec). Conversely, recognition accuracy benefited more from deep than from shallow processing at study only at relatively long response-signal delays (≥300 msec). The results are congruent with views suggesting that both fast familiarity and slower recollection processes contribute to recognition memory.     

Catalyzing the dialogue between the body and the mind in a psychotic analysand

The author presents the analysis of a 23-year-old, obese, psychotic man who was dominated by sensations and unable to work through the different levels of psychic elaboration. He could not discriminate between words and concrete objects or between the perceptual functions of sense organs and the oral-cannibalistic level of instinct. Following the working through of these inabilities, it became possible to understand the patient's use of sensation and to make him aware of his emotions and conflicts. The author's discussion of this material emphasizes the role of the body-mind conflict and how this can be confronted in the analytic relationship. Possible links with neuroscience are also indicated.