Reality monitoring and resistance to forgetting under short delay intervals

In three experiments, participants were asked to perform simple action statements or to imagine performing the actions in a single study session. In a test session that occurred 1 hr, 24 hr, 48 hr (Experiments 1a and 1b), or 1 week later (Experiments 2 and 3), participants were instructed to tell whether the action statement had been carried out or imagined. The primary finding was that, overall, recognition and reality monitoring showed a comparable rate of forgetting. The results add evidence to the hypothesis that, also after long retention delays, discrimination between an internal and an external source may not be inferior to item recognition. A new theoretical proposal to account for these findings is outlined.     

The role of working memory in the development of emotion comprehension

This study investigated the relationship between emotion comprehension, grammar comprehension, and working memory capacity in children between 5 and 11 years (n= 130), testing the hypothesis that working memory has a role in the development of emotion comprehension. We replicated the correlation between emotion comprehension and grammar comprehension, and found that working memory capacity correlates with both of these variables (also with age statistically controlled). The significant effect of age on emotion comprehension was eliminated when working memory capacity was co‐varied. In a regression analysis of emotion comprehension scores, when working memory capacity was entered as a predictor, no additional variance was significantly accounted for by grammar comprehension, gender, or age. A structural relations model, in which the paths from working memory capacity to emotion comprehension and from working memory capacity to grammar comprehension account fully for the correlation between grammar and emotion comprehension, fit the data well. However, working memory capacity was not equally related to all components of the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) ( Pons & Harris, 2000 ), the relationship being significant only for some of them. In particular, working memory capacity has a decisive role in the transition from understanding external to mental aspects of emotions. It is concluded that the development of working memory has a considerable impact on the development of emotion comprehension.     

Existential crises in two religious patients: Vicissitudes of faith and the emergence of the true self

The authors present two clinical cases involving an existential crisis which led the patients to lose what had been the foundation in their lives, their faith. Although the therapeutic settings differ – the first patient had a few psychotherapy sessions following a psychotic episode with a mystical background, while the second was in the final stage of analytic treatment – the authors highlight how in both clinical cases a loss of faith becomes a total and urgent crisis of the Self. The fracture which ensues seems to generate an intense engagement of the body which, paradoxically during a loss of faith, induces an experience of ecstasy of the kind that has traditionally been reported. In the first case the experience of ecstasy was lived first‐hand by the patient who thereafter redefined the psychotic breakdown as a “moment of truth”; whereas the second patient, through a deep projective identification, induces an eerie countertransferential feeling of ‘metaphysical’ shortfall in the agnostic psychoanalyst, triggering bewilderment, physical discomfort and awe in him. In both cases the authors believe that the notable somatic involvement may be correlated to a potentially profound and unprecedented contact with the True Self.     

M by Fritz Lang (Germany, 1931) Phenomenology of Evil: a serial killer and his social group

In 1931 an unknown murderer of little girls (Peter Lorre) is terrorizing the city of Berlin. We see him entice a new victim, the little Elsie Beckmann, who is coming home from school: whistling a tune by Grieg, he buys her a balloon from a blind beggar. When her corpse is discovered, the police undertake a major mobilization aimed at seeking the serial killer in the criminal underworld; meanwhile, the ever more terrified population starts to see the dangerous murderer in everyone. Since the roundups and incursions into the seediest parts of town disturb the gangsters’ activities, the leaders of organized crime, headed by Schränker (Gustav Gründgens), take it upon themselves also to hunt down the solitary child‐killer, engaging the community of beggars. Every corner of the city is catalogued and sifted by the dual activity of the police and the gangsters. The ‘monster’, a former psychiatric patient, mild and harmless in manner, is finally tracked down via two parallel routes: the clue of a cigarette packet enables Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) to track down the serial killer's address, while the blind beggar recognizes the whistled tune. The murderer is identified by a ‘slap’ from a young criminal which leaves an M marked in chalk on a shoulder of the man's overcoat. Thus he is caught and undergoes a kind of trial at the hands of the gangsters who tie him up in order to lynch him, but they are interrupted by the arrival of the forces of law and order.     

The effects of the constancy of location and order in working memory visual–phonological binding of children with dyslexia

It has been suggested that children with dyslexia have difficulties in visual–phonological working memory (WM) binding, supporting the hypothesis that this ability is crucial in the formation of associations between written forms and phonological codes required by reading. However, research on this topic is currently scarce and has not clarified to what extent binding may be supported by spatial and temporal information. The present study examined visual–phonological WM binding performance in a group of children with dyslexia compared to a control group of typically developing children matched for age, gender, and grade. Children had to memorize ephemeral associations between meaningless shapes and nonwords, with stimuli presented in either fixed or variable spatial locations, and in either fixed or variable temporal order across trials; performance was assessed using a recognition task. Results showed that children with dyslexia have a deficit in visual–phonological WM binding in every presentation condition and that, unlike control children, they are not able to use fixed spatial locations as an aid to bind information. Crucially, however, children with dyslexia still benefit from the presentation of stimuli in a fixed temporal order. These findings support the hypothesis that a WM binding deficit is crucial in children with dyslexia, and have potential implications for treatment strategies.     

Structural analysis of the facets and domains of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and the NEO PI-R

Aluja, Kuhlman, and Zuckerman (2010) developed an instrument for American and Spanish populations (Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire [ZKA-PQ]) that includes 4 facets for each 5 basic traits of Zuckerman's psychobiological personality model. This new instrument is intended to improve the previous measure based on the same personality model, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), by including the narrower traits (facets) defining the factors. This article explores the convergent and discriminant validity of the new instrument relative to the NEO PI-R in a sample from the Spanish general population. A series of exploratory factor analyses comparing both instruments was conducted. Results showed good convergent and discriminant validity between both instruments, although the ZKA-PQ had a slightly better structure than the NEO PI-R. The results support the validity of the ZKA-PQ factor domains and the facets composing them. The new instrument might be useful in both applied and research settings.     

Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory Revised (TCI-R): a comparative study

The aim of this study was to compare the psychometric properties (normal distribution values, reliabilities and factor structure) of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and the Temperament and Character Inventory revised (TCI-R). The total sample consisted of 482 subjects (53.1% men and 46.9% women) from diverse age. Results showed somewhat better psychometric properties, like reliability and facet-factor structure, for the ZKA-PQ than the TCI-R. The expected five-factor facet structure of the ZKA-PQ was clear found. However, the seven-factor structure of TCI-R was not clear and it did not show a clear distinction between Temperament and Character factors. When ZKA-PQ and TCI-R variables are analyzed together, the ZKA-PQ factors are related to the Character as well as the Temperament factors. In some cases they represent the opposite poles of ZKA-PQ factors; for example, Neuroticism versus Self-Directiveness and Aggression versus Cooperativeness. Some are directly and highly related to ZKA-PQ factors; for example, Sensation Seeking and Novelty Seeking, Extraversion and Reward Dependence, Neuroticism and Harm Avoidance, and Activity and Persistence.     

Dimensionality and Transcultural Specificity of the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ)

Sexual attraction was considered a component of sexual orientation from the beginning of the second half of the 20th century to present times. However, some recent researchers have studied sexual attraction as an independent field measuring it by the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ). This study analyzes sexual attraction through the SAQ in 400 university students from a Peruvian catholic university. These participants -191 women and 209 men- show a very diverse curricular background. The following hypotheses were tested: a) the structure of the SAQ, pointing out two concepts: attraction to men and attraction to women; b) the high inverse correlation between these two concepts or factors; c) the specific impact of this context in sexual attraction: higher percentage of attracted by none of the sexes and lower percentage of attracted to the opposite sex, in comparison with other contexts; and d) the Lippa prediction (2006, 2007), regarding a higher polarization of sexual attraction for men than for women. Results support the first three hypotheses. Clarifications are laid down with regard to the fourth one. Discussion focuses on theoretical and applied advantages of using the SAQ as opposed to the frequent use of a single item of sexual attraction for each sex.     

On the Conjunction of Basic Assumptions in the Enlarged Group

According to Bion, group mentality is inspired by three basic assumptions (dependence, fightflight, pairing) dominating in turn. No conjunctions of basic assumptions seem to be possible. The author, however, formulates the hypothesis that such conjunctions may take place in weakly structured enlarged groups, midway between small groups and the institutional larger groups described by Freud and Bion as Church, Army and Aristocracy. A case study is here presented, wherein the group session appears to be dominated by a baFF+baP conjunction (i.e. a combination of fight-flight and pairing emerging simultaneously). The in-depth analysis highlights the shared unconscious fantasy corresponding to this conjunction, i.e. the Weapon-Baby fantasy. Having split the parental couple into a good one and a bad one, the group expects the good couple to generate a Divine Baby capable of leading the war against the bad couple. The "good" pairing thus evoked, however, is nothing but a combined object, only capable of faecal offspring: a Stool Baby, which can only be used to be thrown against the Enemy. Similar fantasies can be found at the individual level in manic-personality pseudo-creativity. At the social level, the same baFF+baP conjunction seems to apply as well to political movements such as Hitlerism.     

Reanalysis of Eysenck’s,Gray’s,and Zuckerman’s structural trait models based on a new measure: The Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ)

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships of the dimensions and facets of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) with other psychobiological personality measures: the EPQ-RS (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised, shortened version), I₇ (Impulsiveness Questionnaire) and SPSRQ-20 (Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, 20-item version). It is intended to test if findings reported with Zuckerman’s previous instrument (ZK-PQ) about the relationships between the three biologic-factorial personality models are replicated, giving evidence about the validity of the ZKA-PQ. The sample analyzed was of 584 subjects (50.3% men and 49.7% women) from the Spanish general population. Correlational and factor analysis supported the expected relationships between similar constructs assessed by the ZKA-PQ and the other questionnaires based on Eysenck’s and Gray’s personality theories. On the other hand, the inclusion of the facets from the ZKA-PQ improved the validity of the questionnaire. Findings were discussed in the framework of the biological personality models, emphasizing the contribution of the ZKA-PQ to the psychobiological personality research.