Integrating face and voice in person perception

Integration of information from face and voice plays a central role in our social interactions. It has been mostly studied in the context of audiovisual speech perception: integration of affective or identity information has received comparatively little scientific attention. Here, we review behavioural and neuroimaging studies of face-voice integration in the context of person perception. Clear evidence for interference between facial and vocal information has been observed during affect recognition or identity processing. Integration effects on cerebral activity are apparent both at the level of heteromodal cortical regions of convergence, particularly bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and at 'unimodal' levels of sensory processing. Whether the latter reflects feedback mechanisms or direct crosstalk between auditory and visual cortices is as yet unclear.     

Development and preliminary validation of the physiological hyperarousal scale for children

Considerable empirical support exists for the positive affect and negative affect components of the tripartite model of anxiety and depression proposed by L. A. Clark and D. Watson (1991); however, less attention has been paid to the physiological hyperarousal component of the model. The development of the Physiological Hyperarousal Scale for Children (PH-C; J. Laurent, S. J. Catanzaro, & T. E. Joiner Jr., 1995) is described. The psychometric properties of items are examined using students in Grades 6-12 (N = 398). Initial scale validation includes a joint factor analysis with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C; J. Laurent et al., 1999; J. Laurent, K. Potter, & S. J. Catanzaro, 1994). The relationship between the PH-C and existing measures that tap related constructs is examined. Together, the PH-C and PANAS-C provide a means to assess tripartite model constructs useful in differentiating anxiety and depression.     

Cerebellar ataxia: quantitative assessment and cybernetic interpretation

To assess neuromotor disorders clinicians often rely on rating scales. Unfortunately, these scales lack the sensitivity and accuracy needed to detect the small changes in motor coordination that reflect the clinical progression of the disease on the basis of which treatment programmes can be adjusted. As a contribution to this topic, the present paper proposes a straightforward kinematic and kinetic analysis of reaching movements of patients with cerebellar ataxia in conjunction with a cybernetic interpretation of the data. The aim of the approach is to capture key deficits in the underlying motor control processes. We suggest that cerebellar ataxia may be characterized by defective feedforward control.     

Anxiety sensitivity as a specific and unique marker of anxious symptoms in youth psychiatric inpatients

We addressed several questions regarding the relation of anxiety sensitivity to anxious symptoms among 47 youth psychiatric inpatients (18 boys, 29 girls), ages 9–17 (M = 14.23, SD = 1.89). Participants completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, anxious and depressive symptoms, trait anxiety, and positive and negative affect; chart diagnoses were available. Consistent with hypotheses, we found that (a) anxiety sensitivity was associated with anxious symptoms, even controlling for trait anxiety and depressive symptoms; and (b) anxiety sensitivity displayed symptom specificity to anxious versus depressive symptoms (i.e., was associated with anxiety controlling for depression but not with depression controlling for anxiety). Furthermore, regarding factors of anxiety sensitivity, we obtained mixed support for our prediction that phrenophobia would be associated with both depression and anxiety, whereas fear of physical arousal would be associated with anxiety but not depression. Implications for the construct validity of anxiety sensitivity were discussed.     

Plural Logic and Sensitivity to Order

Sentences that exhibit sensitivity to order (e.g. John and Mary arrived at school in that order and Mary and John arrived at school in that order) present a challenge for the standard formulation of plural logic. In response, some authors have advocated new versions of plural logic based on fine-grained notions of plural reference, such as serial reference [Hewitt 2012] and articulated reference [Ben-Yami 2013]. The aim of this article is to show that sensitivity to order should be accounted for without altering the standard formulation of plural logic. In particular, sensitivity to order does not call for a fine-grained notion of plural reference. We point out that the phenomenon in question is quite broad and that current proposals are not equipped to deal with the full range of cases in which order plays a role. Then we develop an alternative and unified account, which locates the phenomenon not in the way in which plural terms can refer, but in the meaning of special expressions such as in that order and respectively.     

Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Treating Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in First-onset Schizophrenia

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are perceptive-like experiences happening without appropriate stimuli, occurring in two thirds of schizophrenia patients, where they often cause emotional suffering and dangerous behaviors, and interfere with social relationships. Patients with schizophrenia involving AVHs can also be drug-resistant or they may discontinue medications. The most well-known psychotherapeutic intervention for voice-hearing is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on reducing distress by modifying hearers’ beliefs about their voices. We hypothesize that it is possible to reinforce the clinical approach to AVHs by taking into consideration (a) that patients generally hear voices in particular interpersonal contexts where they experience negative emotions; (b) the relationship between AVHs and metacognition, namely the ability to make sense of mental states. On this basis, AVHs can be seen not just as a cause of emotional distress as CBT postulates, but the outcome of difficulties in meta-cognitively making sense of interpersonal exchanges. In this paper, we describe the treatment of a young man at the onset of schizophrenia with pervasive negative AVHs. The patient was treated with metacognitive interpersonal therapy (MIT), aimed to promote the patient’s metacognition. With this aim, in the first part of the treatment, each time AVHs emerged, the patient’s level of arousal was high and his metacognitive ability very low, the therapist treated AVHs helping the patient to understand and cope with the emotional suffering connected with AVHs. At a more advanced stage of therapy, the therapist helped the patient reach the point of understanding the social triggers which, together with the patient’s self-schemas, ignited his auditory hallucinations; this created the conditions for a significant reduction of the pervasiveness of AVHs.