The violent adolescent: the urge to destroy versus the urge to feel alive

The dynamics of adolescent violence are explored from theoretical and developmental perspectives applied to the review of psychoanalytic studies of violence and three cases: the case of Willie Bosket, presented in Fox Butterfield's All God's Children, an adolescent treated by one of the authors, and observation of staff dynamics in a juvenile detention facility. Studies indicate that violence is used to preserve a sense of existence and psychic equilibrium as well as to express rage and destroy unwanted projected parts of the self and dangerous intrusions into a fragile self-coherence. In the case studies, violent activity serves a number of psychic functions: it leads to high arousal states and the feeling of being alive thereby disavowing underlying feelings of deadness and depression, it serves to contain and discharge overwhelming chaotic and rageful feelings, and it enacts object ties and the unconscious fantasies of the parent. Staff dynamics in a treatment setting for juvenile offenders reflect the intrapsychic dynamics of the juvenile offender prone to acting out, projection, hypervigilance to signs of disrespect, and disavowal of unwanted affects including helplessness and vulnerability.     

Inhibition of return at multiple locations in visual search: When you see it and when you don't

Using a novel sequential task, Danziger, Kingstone, and Snyder (1998) provided conclusive evidence that inhibition of return (IOR) can co-occur at multiple non-contiguous locations. They argued that their findings depended crucially on the allocation of attention to cued locations. Specifically, they hypothesized that because subjects could not predict whether an onset event was a target or a non-target, all onset events had to be attended. As a result, non-targets were tagged with inhibition. The present study tested this hypothesis by manipulating whether target onset was predictable or not. In support of Danziger et al., three experiments revealed that multiple IOR was only observed when attention had to be directed to the cued locations. Interestingly, when attention did not need to be allocated to the cued locations, and multiple IOR was abolished, an IOR effect was still observed at the most recently cued location. Two possible accounts for this single IOR effect were presented for future investigation. One account attributes the effect to motor-based inhibition as hypothesized by Klein and Taylor (1994). The alternative account attributes the effect to weak attentional capture by a peripheral cue. Together the data support the view that multiple IOR is an attentional phenomenon and, as hypothesized by Tipper, Weaver, and Watson (1996), its presence or absence is largely under the control of the observer.     

Attentional momentum does not underlie the inhibition of return effect.

J. Pratt, T. M. Spalek, and F. Bradshaw (1999) recently proposed that attentional momentum is the mechanism underlying the inhibition of return (IOR) effect. They suggested that momentum associated with an attentional movement away from a peripherally cued location and toward an uncued opposite location is essential and fundamental to the finding of an IOR effect. Although it is clear from the present study and from a reanalysis of data from Pratt et al. that response time can be facilitated at an uncued opposite location, this putative effect of attentional momentum is neither robust nor reliable. First, it occurs for only a minority of participants. Second, it occurs in only a subset of the cued display positions. And finally, it is uncorrelated with the occurrence of IOR. Together the data indicate that the attentional momentum hypothesis is an overgeneralization and that it does not underlie the robust and reliable IOR effect.     

Next Generation Sequencing is the Impetus for the Next Generation of Laboratory-Based Genetic Counselors

Next generation sequencing (NGS) is dramatically increasing the number of clinically available genetic tests and thus the number of patients in which such testing may be indicated. The complex nature and volume of the reported results requires professional interpretation of the testing in order to translate and synthesize the meaning and potential benefit to patients, and genetic counselors are uniquely suited to provide this service. The increased need for genetic counselors in this role, coupled with the time required and a limited number of trained and available counselors presents a challenge to current models for making genetic testing available to patients and their healthcare providers effectively and efficiently. The employment of genetic counselors at genetic/genomic laboratories is one model to expand the resources for providing this service. In this article, we briefly review the advent of NGS and its clinical applications, examine the core skills of genetic counselors and delineate the expanding roles and responsibilities of laboratory-based genetic counselors. We also propose changes to the genetic counseling training program curriculum to account for the increasing opportunities for genetic counselors to contribute and thrive within genetic testing laboratories.     

Performance of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) on a quantity discrimination task is similar to that of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana)

Animal Cognition - Using an object-choice task, we measured the relative quantity discrimination ability of Asian elephants. Two zoo-housed elephants were given auditory cues of food being dropped...     

Hale’s argument from transitive counting

Synthese - A core commitment of Bob Hale and Crispin Wright’s neologicism is their invocation of Frege’s Constraint—roughly, the requirement that the core empirical applications...     

Integrative approaches to couple therapy: implications for clinical practice and research

Although meta-analyses affirm that various treatments for couple distress produce statistically and clinically significant outcomes, research findings also indicate that a large percentage of couples fail to benefit or subsequently deteriorate following current therapies. Based on these findings, we advocate potential advantages of integrative approaches to couple therapy. We distinguish among assimilative, transtheoretical, and pluralistic approaches to integration and describe exemplars of each. Integrative approaches to couple therapy are compared to distillatory or common factors approaches emphasizing common elements of treatment components, therapist characteristics, and client or relationship attributes. We argue that clinical practice of integrative approaches to couple therapy requires conceptual and clinical decision-making skills transcending those of any one theoretical modality and emphasizing the selection, sequencing, and pacing of diverse interventions in a coherent manner. We conclude with implications of integrative couple-based treatments for future research.     

Preliminary investigation of a video-based stimulus preference assessment

Video clips may be an effective format for presenting complex stimuli in preference assessments. In this preliminary study, we evaluated the correspondence between preference hierarchies generated from preference assessments that included either toys or videos of the toys. The top-ranked item corresponded in both assessments for 5 of the 6 participants, and the top- and bottom-ranked items corresponded for 4 participants. The implications of these results for future research on video preference assessments are discussed.     

Developing Cognitive Control: Three Key Transitions

The ability to flexibly break out of routine behaviors develops gradually and is essential for success in life. We discuss three key developmental transitions toward more flexible behavior. First, children develop an increasing ability to overcome habits by engaging cognitive control in response to environmental signals. Second, children shift from recruiting cognitive control reactively, as needed in the moment, to recruiting cognitive control proactively, in preparation for needing it. Third, children shift from relying on environmental signals for engaging cognitive control to becoming more self-directed. All three transitions can be understood in terms of the development of increasingly active and abstract goal representations in prefrontal cortex.     

Creative People Use Nonconscious Processes to Their Advantage

Although contentious, there is evidence to suggest that nonconscious processes contribute to creative output, particularly during refractory periods. However, no one has examined whether this break benefit differs as a function of creative ability. To address these issues, this investigation examined Wallas's (1926 Wallas , G. ( 1926 ). The art of thought . New York , NY : Harcourt Brace . [Google Scholar]) seminal theoretical framework of creativity. More specifically, the most controversial stage postulated by Wallas, the incubation phase, was empirically tested. A regression analysis demonstrated that productivity is significantly increased when creative people activate nonconscious processes in off-task or incubation periods. There is ongoing debate about the cause(s) of this incubation effect. This research provides evidence that the incubation effect results, at least partially, from nonconscious processing and that it provides greater benefit to more creative individuals. This suggests that highly creative people should be exposed to focus problems/challenges well in advance of objective deadlines, and have freedom to generate solutions outside of structured evaluation times.