Group decision making in hidden profile situations: dissent as a facilitator for decision quality

The effect of diversity in individual prediscussion preferences on group decision quality was examined in an experiment in which 135 three-person groups worked on a personnel selection case with 4 alternatives. The information distribution among group members constituted a hidden profile (i.e., the correct solution was not identifiable on the basis of the members' individual information and could be detected only by pooling and integrating the members' unique information). Whereas groups with homogeneous suboptimal prediscussion preferences (no dissent) hardly ever solved the hidden profile, solution rates were significantly higher in groups with prediscussion dissent, even if none of these individual prediscussion preferences were correct. If dissent came from a proponent of the correct solution, solution rates were even higher than in dissent groups without such a proponent. The magnitude of dissent (i.e., minority dissent or full diversity of individual preferences) did not affect decision quality. The beneficial effect of dissent on group decision quality was mediated primarily by greater discussion intensity and to some extent also by less discussion bias in dissent groups.     

Enhancing picture naming with transcranial magnetic stimulation

The enhancement of cognitive function in healthy subjects by medication, training or intervention yields increasing political, social and ethical attention. In this paper facilitatory effects of single-pulse TMS and repetitive TMS on a simple picture naming task are presented. A significant shortening of picture naming latencies was observed after single-pulse TMS over Wernicke's area. The accuracy of the response was not affected by this speed effect. After TMS over the dominant motor cortex or over the non-dominant temporal lobe, however, no facilitation of picture naming was observed. In the rTMS experiments only rTMS of Wernicke's area had an impact on picture naming latencies resulting in a shortening of naming latencies without affecting the accuracy of the response. rTMS over the visual cortex, Broca's area or over the corresponding sites in the non-dominant hemisphere had no effect. Single-pulse TMS is able to facilitate lexical processes due to a general preactivation of language-related neuronal networks when delivered over Wernicke's area. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over Wernicke's area also leads to a brief facilitation of picture naming possibly by shortening linguistic processing time. Whether TMS or rTMS can be used to aid linguistic therapy in the rehabilitation phase of aphasic patients should be subject of further investigations.     

Du sollst Dir ein Bild machen

Zusammenfassung Die Gleichsetzung von Fokaltherapie mit Kurztherapie vernachlässigt die Erfahrungen, die mit einem fokalen analytischen Vorgehen gewonnen wurden, Erfahrungen, die für den analytischen Erkenntnisprozess insgesamt von großer Bedeutung sind.Ein Fokus stellt eine Hypothese dar, in der einzelne Themen in Form von Bildern zu einer fokalen Gestalt verbunden werden. Dies macht zunächst eine Reflexion des Gebrauches von Bildern und Metaphern in der Psychoanalyse notwendig, wo, ähnlich wie in der Philosophie oder Soziologie, eine Entwertung von Bildern stattfand. Latente Ängste vor schädlicher Regression und Wünsche nach völliger geistiger Ungebundenheit können hinter dieser Entwertung vermutet werden. Vernachlässigt wird dabei die Tatsache, dass unser Gehirn all unsere Sinneseindrücke zuerst als Bilder, nämlich als Hör-, Geruchs-, Geschmacks-, Tast- und Sehbilder wahrnimmt. Erst in einem nächsten Schritt werden daraus zunächst immer bildhafte Worte geformt.Ein weiteres Problem liegt in der häufigen Gleichsetzung von Fokus mit Einengung, was der offenen analytischen Grundhaltung zuwiderliefe und ebenfalls eine zu geringe Rezeption des Fokus im Rahmen der Psychoanalyse verständlich machen würde.In dieser Arbeit wird betont, dass das Erarbeiten eines Fokus, das Fokussieren, eine integrative Funktion hat, mit der die offen-chaotischen und die zielgerichtet-strukturierten Aspekte der analytischen Technik verbunden werden. Das Ergebnis dieses integrativen Prozesses ist ein sich allmählich ausdifferenzierendes inneres Bild, eine fokale Gestalt. Diese Vorgänge, die von Gestaltpsychologen bereits zu Beginn des 20. Jh. beschrieben worden sind, können auf den in jeder Analyse stattfindenden Erkenntnisprozess übertragen werden. Sie finden in jedem Analytiker statt, werden aber meist nicht bewusst reflektiert und genutzt. Die psychoanalytische Heuristik kann als ein fokaler Gestaltkreis beschrieben werden, in dem die offenen und die strukturierten Anteile analytischer Haltung und Technik zusammengefügt werden und sich zu einem immer differenzierteren inneren Bild des Patienten weiterentwickeln. Eine wichtige Konsequenz für die Ausbildung wäre daher eine Förderung der frühen Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit für solche inneren Bilder durch Übungen im Fokussieren.

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You should make a pictureFocus — metaphor — psychoanalytic heuristics

To consider focal therapy simply as a form of short-therapy means to miss the experiences gained by a focal analytical method which are, actually, highly important for psychoanalytic epistemology as a whole. A focus is a hypothesis connecting specific themes in form of images into a focal Gestalt. Thats why it is necessary to reflect first the use of images and metaphor in psychoanalysis in general, as, similar to philosophy and sociology, it came to a devaluation of images in psychoanalysis as well. Latent fears of harmful regression and the wish for absolute mental independency may be supposed to be the reason for it. The fact, that our brain perceives all our impressions in the first instance as images, in fact, as auditive, taste- haptic and visual images, was neglected. Only in a second step these images are modified into words which at first always have a pictorial quality.A further problem is, that focus is often misinterpreted as restriction contradicting an open psychoanalytic basic attitude. This may also have contributed to the poor reception of the focus in psychoanalysis.The author emphasizes that working out a focus has an integrative function which serves to connect the open-chaotic and the goal-oriented aspects of the psychoanalytic technique. The result of these integrative processes is a gradually developing inner image, a focal Gestalt. Processes like these, described already at the beginning of the 20th century by Gestalt psychologists, may be transferred onto the process of gaining insight going on in every psychoanalysis. They occur in every analyst, but remain in most cases unreflected and are not consciously used. Psychoanalytic heuristics can be described as a focal Gestalt circle bringing together the open and the structured components of psychoanalytic atittude and technique, which develop to a more and more differentiated inner image of the patient. An important consequence of these considerations for psychoanalytic training should be, to develop, by exercises in focussing, the ability of perceiving such inner images quite early.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. Rolf Klüwer zum 80. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Difference and presence: Derrida and Husserl’s phenomenology of language,time, history,and scientific rationality

Continental Philosophy Review - This article seeks to reconstruct and critically extend Jacques Derrida’s critique of Edmund Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. Derrida’s...     

Whisker: A client—server high-performance multimedia research control system

We describe an original client-server approach to behavioral research control and the Whisker system, a specific implementation of this design. The server process controls several types of hardware, including digital input/output devices, multiple graphical monitors and touchscreens, keyboards, mice, and sound cards. It provides a way to access this hardware for client programs, communicating with them via a simple text-based network protocol based on the standard Internet protocol. Clients to implement behavioral tasks may be written in any network-capable programming language. Applications to date have been in experimental psychology and behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, using rodents, humans, nonhuman primates, dogs, pigs, and birds. This system is flexible and reliable, although there are potential disadvantages in terms of complexity. Its design, features, and performance are described.     

Millennials’ (Lack of) Attitude Problem: An Empirical Examination of Generational Effects on Work Attitudes

Purpose  

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the sparse empirical literature on generational differences at work by examining (1) the effect of generation on work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, job security, and turnover intentions) and (2) how Millennials’ work attitudes differ from prior generations.