Descartes's Regulae, mathematics, and modern psychology: "the Noblest example of all" in Light of Turing's (1936) On computable Numbers

There are surprisingly strong connections between the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of mathematics. One particular important example can be seen in the Regulae (1628) of Descartes. In "the noblest example of all," he used his new abstract understanding of numbers to demonstrate how the brain can be considered as a symbol machine and how the intellect's algebraic reasoning can be mirrored as operations on this machine. Even though his attempt failed, it is illuminating to explore it because Descartes launched 2 traditions--mechanistic philosophy of mind and abstract mathematics--that would diverge until A. Turing (1936) approached symbolic reasoning in a similar "symbol machine-existence proof" way. Descrates's and Turing's thought experiments, which mark the beginning of modern psychology and cognitive science, respectively, indicate how important the development of mathematics has been for the constitution of the science of mind.     

Metacognitions in proneness towards hallucinations and delusions

The objectives of the present study were to examine the degree of co-existence of hallucinations and delusions in the nonclinical population. In addition, we wished to investigate the role of metacognitions in hallucinations and delusions. Finally, we explored the relative roles of positive and negative metacognitive beliefs in proneness to hallucinations and delusions. Three hundred and thirty-one nonclinical participants completed instruments assessing: hallucination-proneness (Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale; LSHS), delusion-proneness (21-item version of the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory; PDI-21) and metacognitive beliefs (Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire; MCQ). Participants were successively grouped according to their scores on the LSHS and the PDI-21. Results revealed that hallucination-proneness was positively and significantly associated with delusion-proneness. Furthermore, hallucination-prone and delusion-prone participants scored significantly higher on some sub-scales of the MCQ compared to non-prone participants. Finally, multiple regression analysis revealed that positive and negative beliefs were good predictors of proneness towards hallucinations and delusions.     

Evidence-Based Psychotherapy and Counselling in the UK: Critique and Alternatives

Developments in empirically supported therapy or evidence-based practice in the UK are outlined and critically examined. Perceived advantages and disadvantages are set out, with a commentary. It is asserted that the evidence-based ethos is seriously flawed and that psychotherapy is essentially a faith-based craft, not a thoroughly researchable scientific enterprise. Some alternatives to evidence-based practice are briefly outlined, before turning to an exploration of the wider context of anthropathology in which therapy takes place and against which it must acknowledge its limitations. Broad-brush conclusions are drawn.     

The dynamics of self-esteem in adults over a 6-month period: an exploratory study

In this exploratory study, the authors examined the dynamics of self-esteem in 8 adults over a 6-month period. Each participant (M age = 29.4 years, SD = 7.9, SEM = 2.8) completed a single item from the Physical Self Inventory (G. Ninot, M. Fortes, & D. Delignières, 2001) using a 10-cm visual analog scale (horizontal line), twice a day between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m. and between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Time series analyses, including autocorrelation and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) procedures, showed that global self-esteem dynamics were neither stable, stationary, nor random. The ARIMA procedures indicated that this perceived dimension functioned as a moving average (0, 1, 1) without a significant constant, thus suggesting a short-term dynamic adjustment. This pattern is a typical signature of a complex system submitted to several constraints and not an indication of personality trait or state.     

The Relations Among Maternal Depression,Maternal Criticism,and Adolescents’ Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms

This study examined the relations between maternal criticism and externalizing and internalizing symptoms in adolescents who varied in their risk for psychopathology. Both maternal-effects and child-effects models were examined. The sample consisted of 194 adolescents (mean age = 11.8~years) and their mothers; 146 mothers had a history of depressive disorders and 48 did not. When adolescents were in 6th and 8th grade, maternal criticism was measured with the five-minute speech sample and adolescents symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist. Maternal criticism was significantly associated with both adolescents externalizing and internalizing symptoms, beyond the contribution of the chronicity/severity of mothers depression history. Maternal criticism did not mediate the relation between maternal depression and adolescent symptoms. In contrast, adolescent externalizing behaviors mediated the relation between chronicity/severity of maternal depression history and maternal criticism in 6th grade. Prospective analyses showed that adolescents externalizing symptoms in 6th grade significantly predicted maternal criticism in 8th grade, controlling for maternal depression history and prior maternal criticism. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of examining child-effects models in studies of maternal criticism.     

Perfectionism, academic motivation, and psychological adjustment: an integrative model

The purpose of this article was to propose and test an integrative model on the role of perfectionism, academic motivation, and psychological adjustment difficulties in undergraduate students. The model posits that self-oriented perfectionism facilitates self-determined academic motivation, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism enhances non-self-determined academic motivation. In turn, self-determined and non-self-determined academic motivations, respectively, lead to lower and higher levels of psychological adjustment difficulties. Results from two studies using structural equation modeling analyses provided support for the model.     

No aging bias favoring memory for positive material: evidence from a heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm using emotionally toned words

Some authors argue for a memory advantage of older adults for positively toned material. To investigate the contribution of selective processing to a positivity effect, the authors investigated young (n = 72, aged 18 to 31) and older (n = 72, aged 64 to 75) adults' memory for emotionally toned words using a multitrial paradigm that compares performance for heterogeneous (mixed valence) and homogeneous (single valence) lists. Regarding the age comparison, there was no evidence for an aging bias favoring positive material. Moreover, older adults' memory was less affected by emotion-based processing prioritization. Although there was no support for age-specific processing biases in memory for emotionally toned words, the findings are consistent with proposals that negative information receives processing priority in some contexts. Possible limits to the generalizability of the present findings (e.g., to nonverbal material) are discussed.     

Transient hippocampal down-regulation of Kv1.1 subunit mRNA during associative learning in rats

Voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv) are critically involved in learning and memory processes. It is not known, however, whether the expression of the Kv1.1 subunit, constituting Kv1 channels, can be specifically regulated in brain areas important for learning and memory processing. Radioactive in situ hybridization was used to evaluate the content of Kv1.1 α-subunit mRNA in the olfactory bulb, ventral, and dorsal hippocampus at different stages of an odor-discrimination associative task in rats. Naive, conditioned, and pseudoconditioned animals were sacrificed at different times either prior to a two-odor significance learning or after odor discrimination was established. Important decreases of Kv1.1 mRNA levels were transiently observed in the ventral hippocampus before successful learning when compared with the pseudoconditioned group. Moreover, temporal group analysis showed significant labeling alterations in the hippocampus of conditioned and pseudoconditioned groups throughout the training. Finally, Kv1.1 mRNA levels in the hippocampus were positively correlated with odor-reward association learning in rats that were beginning to discriminate between odors. These findings indicate that the Kv1.1 subunit is transiently down-regulated in the early stages of learning and suggest that Kv1 channel expression regulation is critical for the modification of neuronal substrates underlying new information acquisition.