Christfried Jakob's late views (1930-1949) on the psychogenetic function of the cerebral cortex and its localization: culmination of the neurophilosophical thought of a keen brain observer

This article follows the culmination of the scientific thought of the neurobiologist Christfried Jakob (1866-1956) during the later part of his career, based on publications from 1930 to 1949, when he was between 64 and 83 years of age. Jakob emphasized the necessity of bridging philosophy to the biological sciences, neurobiology in particular. Thus, we consider him as one of the early protagonists in the emergence of neurophilosophy in the 20th century. The topics that occupied his mind were the foundations for a future philosophy of the brain, and the 'neurobiogenetic', 'neurodynamic', and 'neuropsychogenetic' problems in relation to how consciousness emerges. Jakob's views have many elements in common with great thinkers of philosophy and psychology, including Immanuel Kant, William James, Edmund Husserl, Henri Bergson, Jean Piaget and Willard Quine. A common denominator can also be discerned between Jakob's dynamic approach and certain aspects of cybernetics and neurophenomenology. Jakob propounded the interdisciplinarity of sciences as an indispensable tool for ultimately solving the enigma of consciousness.     

Method effects: the problem with negatively versus positively keyed items

Using confirmatory factor analyses, we examined method effects on Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) in a sample of older European adults. Nine hundred forty nine community-dwelling adults 60 years of age or older from 5 European countries completed the RSES as well as measures of depression and life satisfaction. The 2 models that had an acceptable fit with the data included method effects. The method effects were associated with both positively and negatively worded items. Method effects models were invariant across gender and age, but not across countries. Both depression and life satisfaction predicted method effects. Individuals with higher depression scores and lower life satisfaction scores were more likely to endorse negatively phrased items.     

Inhibition of Return in children with Tourette's syndrome and comorbid forms: A Preliminary Study

Background: This study investigated the nature and functioning of the visual-spatial inhibition of return (IOR) phenomenon in children with “pure” Tourette's syndrome (TS), and those with comorbid forms of TS. Method: Children with TS-only and “TS + comorbid” (TS + ADHD +/- OCD) and matched controls performed the inhibition of return (IOR) task, which involved responding to left and right visual targets appearing on a computer screen that were preceded by congruent or incongruent exogenous visual cues. Results: The TS-only group performed similarly on the IOR task to the controls. When the TS-only group was subdivided into children with mild and severe TS symptoms, a post hoc comparison between the controls and severe TS symptom children revealed that these TS children had a reduced magnitude of IOR for targets appearing in the right visual field. The comparison between the TS + comorbid and controls revealed an atypical IOR pattern for the TS + comorbid group. They displayed a loss of normal facilitatory and inhibitory effects for right visual field targets. Conclusions: The findings suggest abnormalities in attentional “disengage” and “move” mechanisms in TS when directing attention to the right visual field, which may reflect left posterior parietal, superior colliculus, and midbrain pathology.     

Overdetermination and Elimination

Abstract

I focus on two arguments, due to Jaegwon Kim and Trenton Merricks, that move from claims about the sufficiency of one class of causes to the reduction or elimination of another class of entity, via claims about overdetermination. I argue that in order to validate their move from sufficiency to reduction or elimination, both Kim and Merricks must assume that there can be no ‘weak overdetermination’; i.e., that no single effect can have numerically distinct but dependently sufficient causes occurring at the same time. One problem for both arguments is that weak overdetermination isn't obviously objectionable. That point has been well made before. But I want here to go further than merely shifting the burden of proof onto the advocates of overdetermination arguments. I want to tease out why they are so convinced that we must resist weak overdetermination and explain why their conviction is misguided. Both Merricks and Kim, I shall argue, ultimately rest their case on the same motivating principle, which I call the principle of additional causal powers. This principle, I argue further, should be rejected. It lacks argumentative support, and it begs the question against those at whom the arguments are directed.     

“It can save you if you just forget”: Closeness and Competence as Conditions for Coping among Ugandan Orphans

This article explores the coping strategies of orphaned children and their caregivers supported by a community-based organization in a Ugandan slum area. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with eight orphans (aged 12 to 16 years) and their caregivers selected by the community-based organization. The children had experienced several co-occurring risk factors such as loss and separation, poverty, disease, and an unsafe environment. Most caregivers were extended family members. One caregiver was an unrelated foster carer. Three of the households were child-headed. Data were analysed using an adapted approach of Giorgio's (Hafting, 1995; Malterud, 2001) psychological-phenomenological method. Participating children from child-headed households lacked protective factors associated with closeness (i.e., supportive dyadic relationships). All the children in the study experienced competence in the arenas of school and household chores. Cultural advice on handling adversity, including ‘forgetting’, ‘accepting’ and ‘adjusting’, appears to contradict Western theories of coping. Sommerschild's theoretical model on the conditions for coping was effective in identifying conditions in children's lives that may impair their coping, self-worth, and resilience.     

Active versus passive proprioceptive straight-ahead pointing in normal subjects

Eighty blindfolded healthy female subjects participated in an active and a passive straight-ahead pointing task to study the estimation of the subjective sagittal middle in the presence or absence of an active haptic exploration. Subjects were to point straight-ahead with their left or right index finger starting from different right- or left-sided locations, while performing either an active movement or with the hand being passively moved by the examiner. Results showed: (i) a significant effect of the hand used only on the active straight-ahead pointing task performance; (ii) a significant effect of the starting position both on the active and passive pointing performance; (iii) a significant correlation between the two protocols only in terms of spatial bias (algebraic error) but not in terms of precision (absolute errors). These results are discussed with regards to normal and neuropsychological studies of the egocentric frame of reference.     

The role of motion direction selective extrastriate regions in reading: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Why reading ability is correlated with motion processing ability is perplexing. Activity in motion direction processing regions (Area V5/MT+) was perturbed by means of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to examine its effect on reading. A functional probe (significant shortening of the motion aftereffect) was used to identify Area V5/MT+. Right-handed participants (8 m, 8 f) received three 7.5 min blocks of rTMS, after which two phonological and one orthographic reading tasks were administered. Application of rTMS to Area V5/MT+ (as compared to a non-rTMS baseline) significantly decreased performance only during non-word naming. The pattern of naming errors and the absence of deficits on the second phonological task were not consistent with a role for Area V5/MT+ in phonological decoding. Instead, its role in reading may be limited to image stabilization and/or letter localization.     

Possession as role-taking

The paper discusses the psychological function of mythical roles in the genesis and maintenance of the possessional experience. The Devil as a personification of the evil provides a role which is possible to recognize and even interiorize. Theemotional psychological dynamics interacts with thecognitive content provided by the religious world-view. A case is analyzed and related to prior scientific studies in the field bordering psychopathology and pastoral experience.     

The value of confession and forgiveness according to Jung

This article represents a broad survey of the views of C. G. Jung regarding confession and for giveness. Man, a naturally religious being, has a need to confess his wrong and to gain forgiveness of one sanctioned to absolve. The curative effect of confession has been known for centuries. Without confession, man remains in moral isolation. Priests, ministers, and rabbis, as well as psychotherapists, attest to the universality of this human phenomenon. Confession is located in that place where psychology and religion meet-guilt. Jung's views on confession bridge the chasm between psychology and religion.