The Salvational Process in Relationships: A View from Projective–Introjective Identification and Repetition Compulsion

On the basis of mechanisms such as projective–introjective identification, basic affect, affect regulation, and repetition compulsion, we shall try to explain the essence of intrapsychic, interpersonal, and relational family dynamics. We will also try to explain how relational connections mutually intertwine in the family system, what sustains them, and why they are created and recreated again and again. It is in this regard that we will also be able to consider the essential salvational process, which occurs precisely on the basis of these mechanisms, that is, those that represent fundamental purification and salvation. Some basic biblical theological concepts are applied. These provide the basis for integrating the psychological and theological domains of family systems.     

Explanatory pluralism in cognitive science

This brief commentary has three goals. The first is to argue that "framework debate" in cognitive science is unresolvable. The idea that one theory or framework can singly account for the vast complexity and variety of cognitive processes seems unlikely if not impossible. The second goal is a consequence of this: We should consider how the various theories on offer work together in diverse contexts of investigation. A final goal is to supply a brief review for readers who are compelled by these points to explore existing literature on the topic. Despite this literature, pluralism has garnered very little attention from broader cognitive science. We end by briefly considering what it might mean for theoretical cognitive science.     

Priming outside of awareness and subsequent stimulus identification.

The influence of priming outside of awareness on performance of a color-recognition task was investigated. Using a tachistoscope, a color word that matched ("congruent prime") or did not match ("incongruent prime") the target color or a blank prime was followed by a pattern mask and the target color. Identification performance was superior on the blank prime trials to the congruent prime trials, with performance on the incongruent prime trials being the lowest. A subsequent study included a meaningless (XXX) prime condition, and it was found that meaningless primes interfered with target-color identification more than the congruent and blank prime conditions, but less than the incongruent prime condition, suggesting that primes, in addition to producing semantic activation, impose demands on information-processing capacity of the perceptual system.     

Transfer of fear reduction through systematic desensitization

Systematic desensitization therapy involves the presentation of fear-provoking situations through visualization As the visualizations cease to evoke emotional responses, the fear-provoking potential of the real situations decreases. Research has clearly shown that such transfer does indeed occur with a wide variety of fears. Transfer has been demonstrated, for example, with fear of small animals (Lang and Lazovik, 1963), interpersonal performance anxiety (Paul, 1966), classic phobias (Lazarus, 1961), test anxiety (Katahn, Strenger and Cherry, 1966), impotence (Wolpe, 1958) and frigidity (Lazarus, 1963). However, the nature of transfer has received little attention. Wolpe (1963) has claimed that transfer from therapy to the real life situation is almost complete and direct: “There is almost invariably a one-to one relationship between what the patient can imagine without anxiety and what he can experience in reality without anxiety”. This claim has received support from Rachman (1966) who found that fear reduction transferred immediately to the real situation in 82 per cent of his observations. Hoenig and Reed (1966) reported that after a brief delay, transfer effects were observed in the case of words representing fearful stimuli but were inconsistent in the case of the real stimuli. Agras (1967) found transfer to be delayed in all his cases. He further reported that, though all patients improved, a direct relationship between therapeutic progress and symptom reduction was not found. Both Hain et al. (1966) and Meyer and Crisp (1966) have described the failure of therapeutic effects to transfer to real life.These somewhat inconsistent reports may stem in part from the measurement of transfer effects at different times. Another possibility is that more fearful Ss may evidence less transfer than less fearful Ss. Lang and Lazovik (1963) reported that Ss who completed less than 75 per cent of the hierarchy showed little improvement although direct transfer effects were observed for less fearful Ss (those who complete 75 per cent or more hierarchy items). The present study of transfer effects was designed to remove confoundingof level of fear with extent of progress in systematic desensitization.     

Differential effects of task and reinforcement variables on the performance of three groups of behavior problem children

In a test of Quay's model of differential response tendencies in three basic dimensions of discordant behavior, 36 delinquent boys divided into three behavior groups — Conduct Disorder, Personality Disorder, Inadequate-Immature — del were compared on a verbal paired-associate task under four conditions of task structure: neutral and emotional content, simplicity and complexity; and two reward conditions: material and verbal. Predictions were that the Conduct Disorder and Inadequate-Immature group would perform optimally under conditions of simple emotional task structure and material reward as opposed to the Personality Disorder group, who would demonstrate optimal performance under verbal reinforcement and reflect an interaction effect for task complexity and emotionality. Results confirmed the basic hypothesis of differential responsiveness as a function of subject variables. Directions of the differences indicated that task variables also produced critical effects.     

Differential Educational Aspiration Levels in a Sample of Undergraduate Health Majors

Motive to avoid success (M-s) describes the inner conflict that high-achieving females experience when they are confronted with academic success. Little research has been done on M-s in a predominantly female occupation. Evidence of the trait was detected in a sample of 462 female students at the associate degree and bachelor's degree levels of the medical laboratory profession when they were compared with 118 male peers. An academic variable (high school rank) and two motivational variables (idealized and realistic degree aspiration) were employed. Counseling techniques and recommended areas of future M-s research are presented.     

Tracking the speech signal – Time-locked MEG signals during perception of ultra-fast and moderately fast speech in blind and in sighted listeners

Blind people can learn to understand speech at ultra-high syllable rates (ca. 20 syllables/s), a capability associated with hemodynamic activation of the central-visual system. To further elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying this skill, magnetoencephalographic (MEG) measurements during listening to sentence utterances were cross-correlated with time courses derived from the speech signal (envelope, syllable onsets and pitch periodicity) to capture phase-locked MEG components (14 blind, 12 sighted subjects; speech rate = 8 or 16 syllables/s, pre-defined source regions: auditory and visual cortex, inferior frontal gyrus). Blind individuals showed stronger phase locking in auditory cortex than sighted controls, and right-hemisphere visual cortex activity correlated with syllable onsets in case of ultra-fast speech. Furthermore, inferior-frontal MEG components time-locked to pitch periodicity displayed opposite lateralization effects in sighted (towards right hemisphere) and blind subjects (left). Thus, ultra-fast speech comprehension in blind individuals appears associated with changes in early signal-related processing mechanisms both within and outside the central-auditory terrain.     

Conditioned fear extinction and reinstatement in a human fear-potentiated startle paradigm

The purpose of this study was to analyze fear extinction and reinstatement in humans using fear-potentiated startle. Participants were fear conditioned using a simple discrimination procedure with colored lights as the conditioned stimuli (CSs) and an airblast to the throat as the unconditioned stimulus (US). Participants were extinguished 24 h after fear conditioning. Upon presentation of unsignaled USs after extinction, participants displayed significant fear reinstatement. In summary, these procedures produced robust fear-potentiated startle, significant CS+/CS- discrimination, within-session extinction, and significant reinstatement. This is the first demonstration of fear extinction and reinstatement in humans using startle measures.