Task related modulation of the motor system during language processing

Recent neurophysiological and brain imaging studies have shown that the motor system is involved in language processing. However, it is an open question whether this involvement is a necessary requisite to understand language or rather a side effect of distinct cognitive processes underlying it. In order to clarify this issue we carried out three behavioral experiments, using a go-no go paradigm. Italian verbs expressing hand actions, foot actions or an abstract content served as stimuli. Participants used their right hands to respond. In Experiment 1, in which a semantics decision task with an early delivery of the go signal (during processing language material) was used, slower responses were found for hand action-related verbs than for foot action-related verbs. In Experiment 2, using the same task with either an early or a delayed delivery of the go signal (when language material had been already processed), no difference was found between responses to the two verb categories in the delayed delivery condition. In Experiment 3, in which a lexical decision task with an early delivery of the go signal was used, again no difference between the two verb categories was found. The present findings demonstrate that during language processing the modulation of the motor system crucially occurs while performing a semantics decision task, thus supporting the notion that this involvement is a necessary step to understand language rather than a side effect of upstream cognitive processes.     

Psychoanalytic attitudes towards homosexuality: An empirical research

Homosexuality is a challenging subject for the psychoanalytic community, which is now rethinking some of its basic theoretical and institutional assumptions. In recent decades psychoanalytic theory has changed, and the classical psychosexual model has been challenged. After a short review of major psychoanalytical theories of homosexuality, the authors focus on the existence of contrasting attitudes towards homosexuality. This plurality of theories and their clinical and institutional consequences stimulated the authors to investigate the relationship between the individual analyst's theoretical model and his/her clinical practice. The authors present the results of empirical research conducted in the Italian psychoanalytic community on the attitude of psychoanalysts towards homosexuality and the implications for cultural, theoretical and institutional issues. A questionnaire was sent to 600 psychoanalysts (206 of which responded), members of the five main Italian psychoanalytic institutions. First, analysts' personal characteristics and preferred theoretical models were investigated. Second, the respondents responded to statements eliciting their theoretical and clinical approach towards homosexuality. Results indicate that: a) cultural and theoretical background influences the analysts' attitudes towards homosexuality more than gender; b) there is a discrepancy between analysts' theoretical position and their clinical practice; and c) IPA institutes are more discriminatory towards homosexual colleagues than are Jungian ones.     

Genetic Counseling Dilemmas for a Patient with Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Frontotemporal Degeneration & Parkinson’s Disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal degeneration and Parkinson’s disease may be different expressions of the same neurodegenerative disease. However, association between ALS and parkinsonism-dementia complex (ALS-PDC) has only rarely been reported apart from the cluster detected in Guam. We report a patient presenting with ALS-PDC in whom pathological mutations/expansions were investigated. No other family members were reported to have any symptoms of a neurological condition. Our case demonstrates that ALS-PDC can occur as a sporadic disorder, even though the coexistence of the three clinical features in one patient suggests a single underlying genetic cause. It is known that genetic testing should be preferentially offered to patients with ALS who have affected first or second-degree relatives. However, this case illustrates the importance of genetic counseling for family members of patients with sporadic ALC-PDC in order to provide education on the low recurrence risk. Here, we dicuss the ethical, psychological and practical consequences for patients and their relatives.     

Preflexes and internal models in biomimetic robot systems

The next generation of neuroprostheses, which are aimed at the restoration of natural movement of paralysed body parts or at the natural interaction with external devices, will be quite similar to biomimetic robot systems which attempt to duplicate the organization of the biological motor control system. In the paper, we review some of the organizing principles that have emerged in the last few years and might provide useful guidelines for a biomimetic design.     

Trajectories of religious coping from adolescence into early adulthood: their form and relations to externalizing problems and prosocial behavior

Little is known about changes in religious coping and their relations to adolescents' and young adults' functioning. In 686 Italian youths, trajectories of religious coping were identified from age 16-17 years to age 22-23 years; cohorts of youths reported at 3 of the 4 assessments. Four trajectories of religious coping were identified: decreasing, low stable, high stable, and increasing. A decline in religious coping was associated with high levels of externalizing problems at age 16-17, whereas an increase in religious coping was associated with higher externalizing problems at ages 18-19 and 20-21 years and with relatively high involvement with deviant peers. High stable religious copers were high in prosocial behavior at three ages; low stable religious copers were higher than people undergoing change in their religious coping from mid-adolescence into early adulthood. These results can expand our current thinking about religious coping and adolescent adjustment.     

Conceivability,Counterfactual Thinking and Philosophical Exceptionality of Modal Knowledge

Topoi - According to Williamson (The philosophy of philosophy, Blackwell, Oxford, 2007), our knowledge of metaphysical necessities and possibilities is just a “special case” of our...     

The contribution of self-efficacy beliefs to dispositional shyness: on social-cognitive systems and the development of personality dispositions

This longitudinal research explored the impact of self-efficacy beliefs on self-reported tendencies to experience shyness in interpersonal encounters among a population of adolescents studied over a two-year period. Self-efficacy measures, taken at the initial measurement period, included indices of perceived self-efficacy for forming and maintaining social relationships, dealing effectively with parents, managing negative emotions, and expressing positive emotions towards others. Levels of self-reported shyness as well as emotional stability were assessed also at time 1, with shyness measured again at the follow-up assessment two years later. Structural equation modeling indicated that two of the four self-efficacy measures uniquely contributed to levels of shyness reported at time 1, and that perceptions of social self-efficacy uniquely contributed to shyness at time 2 even when considering the effects of time 1 shyness levels. Emotional stability did not uniquely contributed to time 2 shyness after considering the relation between shyness at the first and second measurement points. The broad implications of social-cognitive analyses for the study of personality development are discussed.     

Adolescents’ regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs and daily affect intensity

Self-efficacy beliefs in emotion regulation were shown to foster well-being and psychosocial adaptation over time. In this study, we investigated their relationship with daily affect intensity among 199 adolescents aged 15–19. Participants completed the Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale measuring perceived capability to manage the experience and expression of negative emotions (SE-NE) and positive emotions (SE-PO). Through Experience Sampling Method, for 1 week they also repeatedly rated their positive affect (happiness and contentment) and negative affect (anger, anxiety, sadness). Multilevel regression models revealed an additive intensifying predictive effect of SE-PO and SE-NE on happiness and contentment, and a single direct negative effect of SE-NE on sadness. Models also highlighted an interactive effect of SE-PO and SE-NE on all negative affect variables, such that only at low SE-PO levels did high SE-NE predict lower negative affect. Findings support the relation between adolescents’ regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs and their daily affect intensity, bringing forward suggestions for intervention.