Empathy deficits and trait emotional intelligence in psychopathy and Machiavellianism

This study investigated the relationships between psychopathy (primary and secondary), Machiavellianism, trait emotional intelligence and empathy, using an image task that required an appropriate empathic response to the emotional displays of others (happy, sad and neutral). Results indicated that primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were positively associated with the experience of positive affect from sad stimuli, while secondary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were positively associated with the experience of negative affect in response to neutral stimuli, and the opposite pattern was found for trait emotional intelligence. Regressional analyses demonstrated that secondary psychopathy, Machiavellianism, trait emotional intelligence and state anxiety are important predictors when stimuli are ambiguous.     

Who art thou? Personality predictors of artistic preferences in a large UK sample: The importance of openness

The present study examined individual differences in artistic preferences in a sample of 91,692 participants (60% women and 40% men), aged 13–90 years. Participants completed a Big Five personality inventory ( Goldberg, 1999 ) and provided preference ratings for 24 different paintings corresponding to cubism, renaissance, impressionism, and Japanese art, which loaded on to a latent factor of overall art preferences. As expected, the personality trait openness to experience was the strongest and only consistent personality correlate of artistic preferences, affecting both overall and specific preferences, as well as visits to galleries, and artistic (rather than scientific) self‐perception. Overall preferences were also positively influenced by age and visits to art galleries, and to a lesser degree, by artistic self‐perception and conscientiousness (negatively). As for specific styles, after overall preferences were accounted for, more agreeable, more conscientious and less open individuals reported higher preference levels for impressionist, younger and more extraverted participants showed higher levels of preference for cubism (as did males), and younger participants, as well as males, reported higher levels of preferences for renaissance. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Imre Hermann's Freudian theory of attachment

In this paper the author addresses some problems concerning the relation between attachment theory and psychoanalysis and sketches the outline of a Freudian theory of attachment, based on the ideas ofthe Hungarian psychoanalyst Imre Hermann. First, he elucidates the fundamental divergence behind the insults and misunderstandings that have dominated the debate between attachment theory and Freudian psychoanalysis: they differ radically in their conceptions of temporality and of the relation between psychopathology and human nature. Second, the author presents Hermann's work on 'Clinging–Going-in-search' (1976) as a theoretical model in which the findings of attachment theory can be integrated in a theory of psychopathology that is radically dimensional and that preserves the methodology of Freudian psychoanalysis. In the third part of the paper, the author discusses the question of whether Hermann's 'clinging instinct' is a primary instinct in the Freudian sense, and whether it is an interesting alternative for Freud's 'death instinct', as Hermann claims.     

Age-related Changes in Postural Sway During Sit-to-stand in Typical Children and Children with Cerebral Palsy

Objective: To assess age-related changes in postural sway during sit-to-stand (STS) in typical children (TC) and children with mild cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: Thirty-five TC and 23 children with mild CP were allocated in four different age groups: 5–6, 7–9, 10–12, and 13–15 years; they all performed STS movements over a force plate. Anterior-posterior and medial-lateral amplitude of center of pressure (CoP) displacement, area and velocity of CoP sway were analyzed and compared between the age groups for TC and children with CP. Results: TC at 5 to 6 years of age showed higher values of anterior-posterior CoP displacement and Area of CoP sway than at 10–12 years, during the stabilization phase. There were no age-related changes for CP. Conclusion: TC change their postural sway during the last STS phase over the years, reducing their body sway. Children with CP did not show age-related changes in sway during STS, reflecting a distinct rhythm of postural control development in this population.     

Effects of daily environmental enrichment on memory deficits and brain injury following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in the rat

Environmental enrichment (EE) results in improved learning and spatial memory, as well as attenuates morphological changes resulting from cerebral ischemia in adult animals. This study examined the effects of daily EE on memory deficits in the water maze and cerebral damage, assessed in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, caused by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. Male Wistar rats in the 7th postnatal day were submitted to the Levine-Rice model of neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), comprising permanent occlusion of the right common carotid artery and a period of hypoxia (90 min, 8%O(2)-92%N(2)). Starting two weeks after the HI event, animals were stimulated by the enriched environment (1h/day for 9 weeks); subsequent to the stimulation, performance of animals in the water maze was assessed. HI resulted in spatial reference and working memory impairments that were completely reversed by EE. Following the behavioral study, animals were killed and the hippocampal volume and cortical area were estimated. There was a significant reduction of both hippocampal volume and cortical area, ipsilateral to arterial occlusion, in HI animals; environmental stimulation had no effect on these morphological measurements. Presented data indicate that stimulation by the daily environmental enrichment recovers spatial memory deficits caused by neonatal hypoxia-ischemia without affecting tissue atrophy in either hippocampus or cortex.     

Can small lesions induce language reorganization as large lesions do?

Shift of the cortical mechanisms of language from the usually dominant left to the non-dominant right hemisphere has been demonstrated in the presence of large brain lesions. Here, we report a similar phenomenon in a patient with a cavernoma over the anterolateral superior temporal gyrus associated with epilepsy. Language mapping was performed by two complementary procedures, magnetoencephalography, and electrocorticography. The maps, indicated right temporal lobe dominance for receptive language and left frontal lobe dominance for expressive language. These results indicate that a small lesion, associated with epilepsy, may produce selective shifting of receptive language mechanisms as large lesions have been known to produce.     

Nasal trigeminal chemosensitivity across the adult life span

Individuals can determine the side of the nose that receives an odorant during unilateral presentation (lateralize) if endings of the trigeminal nerve are stimulated. By using psychophysical methods, olfactory detection and trigeminal lateralization thresholds for 1-butanol were obtained from 142 individuals ranging in age from 20 to 89 year. Sensitivity in both chemosensory pathways declined with advancing age, especially in people older than 60 years.     

The impact of object size and rigidity on infant reaching

Although the changes in kinematics of infant reaching have been studied, few researchers have investigated the improvement of reaching regarding objects of distinct physical properties. The aim of this longitudinal study was to verify the impact of object size and rigidity on the development of reaching in 4-6-month-old infants. Four infants were observed with a motion capture system during trials with four objects of distinct sizes and rigidity. A total of 188 reaches were analyzed by using the 3D movement reconstruction. Our results showed that reaching frequency, mean velocity, and straightness index increased with age. The number of movement units decreased with age and increased for small objects. Rigidity was not shown to affect reaching trajectories. These findings suggest that infants are capable of perceiving the more relevant object properties, thus using their available motor capabilities to modify the essential variables so that they can reach the target more accurately.     

On shame,countertransference, and analytic style

Some analysands experience a restricted space in the analytic situation with special counter-transferential consequences. The author discusses how shame is involved in these situations, and projected on to the analyst. This leads to an important choice of direction for the analyst regarding counter-transference acting out or conditions for a real analytic situation. Shame plays a special rôle in these choices of direction. The author illustrates the problem with a clinical vignette and shows how integration of shame is accomplished clinically, and continues with a discussion of the connections between the analyst's analytic style, his own communicative style as a defense against shame and the analytic styles of different analytic “schools”. A discussion of Liberman's concept, of “asymmetrical dialogue” and its connection with countertransference acting out and analytic styles, forms a conclusion to the paper.