Countertransference, empathy, and the analytic ideal: the impact of life stresses on analytic capability

Analysts' emotional attitudes toward countertransference issues are influenced by unduly perfectionistic ideals that are partly derived from the early period of psychoanalytic theory. Analysts' unconscious receptivity, whether of the beneficially empathic kind or the disadvantageous countertransference variety, is a reflection of a dynamic internal state. This fundamental relationship between empathy and countertransference is illustrated with examples. Important events that occur in the life of the analyst, by virtue of their impact on his own central compromise formations, cannot but affect his analytic functioning. Minor disturbances in analytic capability are commonplace and do not significantly handicap effective work.     

Effect of levels of exercise on psychological mood states, physical fitness, and plasma beta-endorphin

Aerobic exercise which resulted in a significant improvement in cardiovascular functioning had no more effect on psychological mood states than did the placebo control of participation in nonaerobic recreational games or no exercise and sport at all (N = 430 college students). Beta-endorphin levels with the 41 depressed subjects were not a biochemical link that might explain the possible influence of physical activity on depression.     

Gifted children and Visual Aural Digit Span test performance

The performance of 81 gifted elementary students on the Visual Aural Digit Span test is discussed. The students generally showed advanced performance from Grade 1 through Grade 5 and from age 7-0 yr. through 11-11 yr. Performance at Grade 6 and the 12-0 to 12-11-yr.-old levels were generally at age-expected levels and were probably restricted due to the test's limited ceiling. Tables of means across grade and age and needs for further research are also presented.     

Effect of directed attention on cerebral asymmetries in stuttering adults

9 stutterers and 9 nonstutterers were administered a dichotic digits test under conditions of free recall and directed attention. Analysis indicated right-ear preference for both groups and no differences between the free recall and directed listening conditions. Results are discussed in relation to previous studies in which dichotic digit-stimuli were presented to stutterers.     

Effects of auditory masking by white noise on primary stressing during spontaneous speech

6 adult subjects (3 men, 3 women) produced highly similar spontaneous speech utterances in quiet and with 90-dB SPL white noise. The frequency of occurrence of perceptual judgments of primary stressing in an utterance was not affected by the masking noise. This finding supplements our previous report that variability for stress production of fundamental frequency (fo) during spontaneous speech was preserved under short-term auditory disruption. Also, it adds further support to the contention that fo is under open-loop regulation.     

The role of phonemes and syllables in the perceived similarity of speech sounds for children

In two experiments, we investigated the factors that influence the perceived similarity of speech sounds at two developmental levels. Kindergartners and second graders were asked to classify nonsense words, which were related by syllable and phoneme correspondences. The results support the existence of a developmental trend toward increased attention to individual phonemic segments. Moreover, one significant factor in determining the perceived similarity of speech sounds appears to be the position of the component correspondences; attention to the beginning of utterances may have developmental priority. An unexpected finding was that the linguistic status of the unit involved in a correspondence (whether it was a syllable or a phoneme) did not seem particularly important. Apparently, the factors which contribute to the perceived similarity of speech sounds in the classification task are not identical to those which underlie performance in explicit segmentation and manipulation tasks, since in the latter sort of task, syllables are more accessible than phonemes for young children. The present task may tap a level of processing that is closer to the one entailed in word recognition and lexical access.     

On the relation between indistinguishability of identical particles and (anti)symmetry of the wave function in quantum mechanics

Two different concepts of distinguishability are often mixed up in attempts to derive in quantum mechanics the (anti)symmetry of the wave function from indistinguishability of identical particles. Some of these attempts are analyzed and shown to be defective. It is argued that, although identical particles should be considered as observationally indistinguishable in (anti)symmetric states, they may be considered to be conceptually distinguishable. These two notions of (in)distinguishability have quite different physical origins, the former one being related to observations while the latter has to do with the preparation of the system.