COCAINE ADDICTS AND THEIR FAMILIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE PROCESSES OF IDENTIFICATION

The processes of identification between adolescent cocaine addicts and their parents were studied in 402 subjects, in total 134 familial triads (father"mother"son), subdivided into two groups of 67 triads, one of these groups having as the child an adolescent of masculine sex dependent on cocaine and the other, equal in number, being a control group, duly matched for age and socio-economic status. The instrument employed was the Rorschach test (1922), limited to the application of the Lerner Defense Scale (LDS; Lerner & Lerner, 1980). The findings in the affected triads showed up as consistent statistically for the presence of intense processes of pathological identification, especially between father and son, a sign of the importance of the presence of disturbances of paternal function in the development of this addiction. The utilisation of very regressive defence mechanisms, above all of projective identification, was the predominant mode of procedure in triads with a dependent child. In comparisons between the fathers the odds ratio (OR) for projective identification was 8.66 to 1, which points to the association between cocaine addiction and the primitive mental functioning of the fathers. With empirical methodology these findings serve to corroborate the psychoanalytical conclusions based on studies of single case studies, testifying that the dysfunctions of identificatory phenomena in familial functioning are predominant in the mental organisation of cocaine addicts.     

Enhancing Nature Conservation and Health: Changing the Focus to Active Pro-environmental Behaviours

Most research about the promotion of pro-environmental behaviours has focused on actions conducted at home (e.g. energy saving). While acknowledging their relevance, the effect of such behaviours on the mitigation of two of the most relevant global environmental problems (climate change and biodiversity loss) is relatively small. We present a literature review with two main objectives. First is to introduce the concept of active pro-environmental behaviours. These are a combination of outdoor physical activities and pro-environmental behaviours. The latter involve behaviours that have a minimum impact on the environment, or even have positive consequences for the environment. Active commuting and tree planting are examples of active pro-environmental behaviours. The second objective is to discuss the relevance of active pro-environmental behaviours for people’s health and sustainability and, thereby, to encourage more research and efforts towards the promotion of these behaviours. We conclude by suggesting how stakeholders can promote active pro-environmental behaviours.     

Assessment and treatment of response to name for children with autism spectrum disorder: Toward an efficient intervention model

Response to name (RTN) is an early developmental milestone, deficits in which are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study extends previous research by evaluating an assessment and treatment model for RTN with 13 children with ASD. For all participants, phase 1 was a naturalistic social baseline. The 9 children who did not meet mastery criteria in phase 1 underwent a series of treatment conditions in phase 2. In phase 3, treatment components were removed, and generalization was assessed. Results indicated that tangible reinforcement procedures can produce rapid increases in discriminated RTN, sometimes without prompts. The total number of trials to mastery were reduced in the current study relative to previous research. Results also provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the phase 1 baseline condition may produce distinct patterns of RTN that could be used to predict treatment effects and further reduce trials to mastery in future work.     

Conditions for positive and negative recencies in running memory-span recognition

A positive recency effect in a running-span recognition procedure was obtained in Experiment 1 for hits and for intratrial false alarms. In running recall procedures, recency does not fit well with an active updating hypothesis. In Experiment 2, in which the beginning of the target set was marked with a cue upon presentation, the recency effects disappeared. In Experiments 3 and 4 participants were forced to maintain 2 items in memory until the last one was presented for recognition. These three items were the target set. When the last item presentation was uncertain—because of the variable length list—an unexpected negative recency effect appeared. An explanation for this change from positive to negative recency is offered based on the sharing of attentional resources put forward by others for similar procedures.     

Exploration and Selection of Intralimb Coordination Patterns in 3-Month-Old Infants

Through the exploration of their own capacities and the selection of adaptive responses, infants learn new motor solutions. Using a conjugate reinforcement mobile procedure, previous researchers have repeatedly shown that infants increase their leg kick frequency to control a mobile that is connected to their ankles. That traditional experimental design allows multiple motor solutions to the task and therefore provides limited information about the infants' capacity to explore and select specific motor solutions. The author designed a new experimental procedure to study infants' capacity to discover and adopt specific motor solutions. The new, constraining mobile reinforcement procedure requires a specific motor response and therefore the development of a more finely tuned perception—action map than has previously been experimentally demonstrated. To gain reinforcement from the mobile, infants had to produce a coordinated hip and knee extension within the same leg. The results from the 13 infant participants showed that they were capable of increasing their frequency of coordinated movements to make the mobile move. Those results suggest that infants at the age of 89–106 days are sensitive to intralimb coordination task requirements and are capable of mapping their own limb dynamics to the environmental information.     

Imágenes mentales y desarrollo cognitivo en ciegos totales de nacimiento

Resumen

El objetivo perseguido en este trabajo fue el estudiar las peculiaridades del desarrollo de la imagen mental enlos niños ciegos totales de nacimiento en la edad de adquisición de las operaciones concretas. Para ello se adaptaron algunas pruebas de las utilizadas por Piaget e Inhelder (1966) en su obra sobre la imagen mental, y se aplicaron a 29 ninos ciegos totales de nacimiento entre los 7 y los 15 años de edad, clasificados en 4 niveles de edad. Sus resultados se compararon con los de dos grupos de control de niños videntes, uno de ellos trabajando con los ojos vendados.

Los resultados muestran un retraso importante de los ciegos respecto a los videntes en uso de la visión en las pruebas que se refieren a la evocación de imágenes de configuraciones estáticas complejas, de objetos en movimiento, y de objetos que se transforman. Este retraso se achaca al de la misma cuantía observado en la adquisición de las operaciones concretas. Este desarrollo cognitivo más lento parece deberse únicamente a la modalidad sensorial utilizada, y no a un daño producido por la ceguera congénita, pues los videntes tapados obtienen resultados comparables a los ciegos.     

Determinantes familiares,escolares y grupales del consumo de drogas en la adolescencia. Implicaciones para el Tratamiento

Resumen

El propósito del presente artículo es el de llamar la atención acerca de la necesidad de recoger los datos que señalan la importancia de los grupos familiar, escolar y de iguales, de cara a la elaboration de programas concretos de prevención y tratamiento de incidencia en estos tres entornos del adolescente. Con este fin, en primer lugar se analizarán los principales hallazgos de las investigaciones que relacionan la familia, la escuela y el grupo de iguales con la aparición de drogodependencias en los adolescentes. Como segundo paso se apuntarán las líneas generales de aplicación de estos hallazgos en programas de prevención e intervención.     

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.     

THE DEFENCE OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE TRINITY AND THE INCARNATION: AN EXAMPLE OF LEIBNIZ'S 'OTHER' REASON

In this paper I will discuss certain aspects of Leibniz's theory and practice of ‘soft reasoning’ as exemplified by his defence of two central mysteries of the Christian revelation: the Trinity and the Incarnation. By theory and practice of ‘soft’ or ‘broad’ reasoning, I mean the development of rational strategies which can successefully be applied to the many areas of human understanding which escape strict demonstration, that is, the ‘hard’ or ‘narrow’ reasoning typical of mathematical argumentation.¹ These strategies disclose an ‘other’ reason, i.e. a complementary set of arguments and methods developed by Leibniz in order to deal with crucial issues such as the ‘weighting’ of probabilities and truths of fact. I will argue that one of the most compelling examples of the importance and fertility of Leibniz's ‘other’ reason is provided by his solution to the problems posed by the unique epistemological status of theological mysteries.