Conception and dream material during psychoanalysis

A dream announcing her conception and describing in symbolic terms physiological processes associated with the early stages of pregnancy was reported by a female analysand 4 days after she and her husband had engaged in intercourse for the purpose of procreation. The manifest content of the dream and the associations to it are described. The assumption that conception, ordinarily a subliminal stimulus, was a somatic stimulus in this situation is explored. It is suggested that three special factors—the patient's exceptional sensitivity to internal sensations, her strong motivation to conceive, and a contributory awakening stimulus— may have made it possible for her to perceive her conception.     

Gender Differences in Academic Achievement: Is Writing an Exception to the Gender Similarities Hypothesis?

The gender similarities hypothesis by J. S. Hyde (2005 Hyde, J.S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581–592.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), based on large-scale reviews of studies, concludes that boys and girls are more alike than different on most psychological variables, including academic skills such as reading and math (J. S. Hyde, 2005 Hyde, J.S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581–592.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Writing is an academic skill that may be an exception. The authors investigated gender differences in academic achievement using a large, nationally stratified sample of children and adolescents ranging from ages 7–19 years (N = 2,027). Achievement data were from the conormed sample for the Kaufman intelligence and achievement tests. Multiple-indicator, multiple-cause, and multigroup mean and covariance structure models were used to test for mean differences. Girls had higher latent reading ability and higher scores on a test of math computation, but the effect sizes were consistent with the gender similarities hypothesis. Conversely, girls scored higher on spelling and written expression, with effect sizes inconsistent with the gender similarities hypothesis. The findings remained the same after controlling for cognitive ability. Girls outperform boys on tasks of writing.     

Certification in neurodevelopmental disabilities: the development of a new subspecialty and results of the initial examinations

The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, in collaboration with the American Board of Pediatrics, administered the first Subspecialty Certification Examination in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities to 190 candidates on April 3, 2001, and the second to 80 candidates on April 9, 2002. This report describes the history of the certifying examination including the process of its development and the results of the first and second examination administrations. The purpose of the Certification Examination in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities is to assess knowledge of qualified candidates in the subspecialty. A committee comprised of child neurologists and pediatricians developed this examination. Of the 190 pediatricians (n = 169) and child neurologists (n = 21) who completed the examination in 2001, 157 (83%) passed the examination. The second group of examinees included 68 pediatricians and 12 child neurologists, and the pass rate was 70%. The 213 candidates certified to date have received ten-year time-limited certificates that may be renewed by recertification process beginning in 2010. After the "grandfathering period," candidates for the examination must complete ACGME-approved training programs in the subspecialty.     

Eye position and the control of auditory attention

In a binaural selective-listening task, subjects' performance was strongly influenced by the position of their eyes, Subjects remembered fewest words from the relevant message and made the most intrusion errors when looking in the direction of the irrelevant input. Looking away from the relevant message but in a direction from which no auditory input originated was not significantly different from looking toward the relevant input. As the speakers were arrayed along a vertical line, the results cannot be interpreted as reflecting activation of the cerebral hemispheres (unlike earlier related work). The results are discussed in terms of the control of auditory attention.     

Neural changes in the ventral and dorsal visual streams during pattern recognition learning

The learning process related to pattern and object recognition is difficult to study because the human brain has a remarkable capacity to recognise complex visual forms from early infancy. In the present study, we investigated on-going neural changes underlying the learning process of visual pattern recognition by means of a device substituting audition for vision. Functional MRI evidenced the gradual pattern recognition-induced recruitment of the ventral visual stream, bilaterally, from learning session 1 to session 3, and a slight decrease in these activation foci from session 3 to session 4. The initial increase in activation is thought to reflect the gradually enhanced visualisation of patterns in the subjects' mind across sessions. By contrast the subsequent decrease reported at the end of the training period is interpreted as the progressive optimisation of neuronal responses elicited by the task. Our results, in accordance with previous observations, suggest that the succession of activation increase and decrease in sensori-motor areas could be a general rule in sensory and sensori-motor learning.