The complexity of satisfiability for fragments of hybrid logic—Part I

The satisfiability problem of hybrid logics with the downarrow binder is known to be undecidable. This initiated a research program on decidable and tractable fragments.In this paper, we investigate the effect of restricting the propositional part of the language on decidability and on the complexity of the satisfiability problem over arbitrary, transitive, total frames, and frames based on equivalence relations. We also consider different sets of modal and hybrid operators. We trace the border of decidability and give the precise complexity of most fragments, in particular for all fragments including negation. For the monotone fragments, we are able to distinguish the easy from the hard cases, depending on the allowed set of operators.     

Emotional expression on a profile: Feature height, mouth angle, and tilt

Profiles may vary in expression with changes in the height of the profile’s features, the mouth’s angle at the profile contour, and head tilt. In three experiments, we varied these factors. Features low on the profile, with mouths at an obtuse angle to the profile line and head tilted 15° forehead-forward, appear especially sad. High features with acute mouth angles suit forward, upright, and backward head tilts. Feature height, mouth angle, and head tilt on a profile are physical variables that can specify postures such as downcast heads and turned-down mouths, and thereby psychological factors. We point out alternative accounts of the height and tilt effects.     

Multiple family therapy for anorexia nervosa: concepts, experiences and results

Multiple family therapy (MFT) is an increasingly popular treatment approach for adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa and their families. This paper describes the ingredients and different phases of this treatment, and outlines its indications and contra‐indications. Relationship patterns in families containing anorectic teenagers are examined, with a special emphasis on identifying areas for change in family relationships. Results with regard to the overall acceptability of the approach are presented.     

Treatment of resistance to change in children with autism

“Resistance to change” represents a core symptom of autism that we conceptualized and assessed as resulting in part due to factors known to govern free‐operant choice. During a free‐choice baseline, participants chose between problematic, resistive responses and an appropriate alternative response. During the asymmetrical‐choice condition, we delivered their most highly preferred item if the participant chose the alternative response (i.e., differential reinforcement of alternative behavior [DRA]). During the guided‐ (Experiment 1) and singular‐ (Experiment 2) choice conditions, we prompted participants to choose the alternative response and then delivered their most highly preferred item (i.e., DRA with escape extinction). All participants learned to tolerate (Experiment 1) or choose (Experiment 2) the alternative response when we combined DRA with escape extinction. After exposure to escape extinction, two participants showed strong maintenance effects with DRA alone. We discuss these finding relative to the effects of DRA and escape extinction on resistance to change.     

Emotional and learning behaviour in mice overexpressing heat shock protein 70

The effects of inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) on emotional and learning behaviour as well as hippocampal long-term potentiation was investigated in transgenic HSP70 overexpressing mice. In active two-way avoidance learning (shuttle box) as well as spatial 8-arm radial maze learning, the HSP70 overexpressing mice showed diminished learning performance. In several tests there was no indication of differences in anxiety behaviour between transgenic mice and wild-type mice. This suggests that impairment in learning behaviour is unrelated to the learning task and motivational aspects of behaviour. To investigate the neurophysiological correlate of learning, long-term potentiation experiments were performed. In transversal hippocampal slices, an enhanced amplitude of the population spike was found in HSP70 overexpressing mice. It was hypothesised that enhanced potentiation in conjunction with potentiation effects due to learning led to learning impairment.     

Gruppenpsychotherapie Die unbekannte und benachteiligte psychotherapeutische Behandlungsoption

Gruppenbehandlungen stellen die angemessene Indikation für ein sehr breites Spektrum von psychischen Störungsbildern und somatischen Erkrankungen dar. Für einige psychische Störungen, wie Persönlichkeitsstörungen, psychiatrische Erkrankungen, Essstörungen, Substanzmissbrauch, psychosomatische Erkrankungen und funktionelle Störungsbilder sowie chronische körperliche Erkrankungen, ist die Gruppenbehandlung sogar die beste indikative Option. Das mögliche breite Behandlungsspektrum ist weithin unbekannt. Hinzu treten hierzulande administrative Behinderungen, die speziell im ambulanten Versorgungsbereich die Gruppenbehandlung gegenüber der einzeltherapeutischen Behandlung benachteiligen, so dass die angemessenere und kostengünstigere Option einer Gruppenbehandlung hier viel zu wenig zum Tragen kommt.     

Zur Bedeutung von Gruppenleitern in der gruppenpsychotherapeutischen Weiterbildung

Training in group therapy is fundamentally based on self-experience in groups. The importance of the model character of the group leader's role has hardly been subject to empirical research in spite of its highly qualified and specialized requirements. In order to ensure process quality in group therapy training, the effects of the leader's model on the reported learning effects of 413 members in 35 short-term Process (self-awareness) and so-called Special Interest (thematically focused) groups of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) were investigated. The first two sessions out of four were investigated by process questionnaires focusing on self-experience, experience of the group atmosphere and subjective impressions of the group leaders' performances. These process variables were later correlated with the overall learning impression after all four sessions. It turned out that particularly those group leaders' styles and attitudes had a strong positive correlation with favourable learning effects, that were decisive and charismatic instead of vague and that group leaders who were experienced by group members as predominantly indecisive, vague and less charismatic were in spite of the fact of being seen as competent and skillful produced weak learning effects. Results are discussed in the light of the need of neophyte group therapists to identify with a leader model promising to provide authority and sovereignity even prior to competence and empathy given the anticipatory fear regarding possible critical group dynamics in future therapy groups.     

The judgement of behaviour as aggressive and sanctionable

The influence of the factors norm deviation, intent, and injury, on the judgement of a critical act as aggressive and sanctionable was tested using a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Scenarios depicting aggressive interactions represented the experimental conditions. 859 school children rated these scenarios on bipolar rating scales. The results show that norm deviation, intent, and injury, are important criteria for the interpretation of aggressive behaviour. Judging an action as sanctionable proved to be more sensitive for the variation of factors than the interpretation of behaviour as aggressive. In addition, an analysis of how the scenarios representing the experimental conditions were subjectively interpreted by the subjects was carried out. This showed that all combinations of the three definition criteria are psychologically meaningful. However, preferences were observed for specific interpretation patterns.     

Amygdala activation during masked presentation of emotional faces predicts conscious detection of threat-related faces

It has been argued that critical functions of the human amygdala are to modulate the moment-to-moment vigilance level and to enhance the processing and the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing material. In this functional magnetic resonance study, pictures of human faces bearing fearful, angry, and happy expressions were presented to nine healthy volunteers using a backward masking procedure based on neutral facial expression. Activation of the left and right amygdala in response to the masked fearful faces (compared to neutral faces) was significantly correlated with the number of fearful faces detected. In addition, right but not left amygdala activation in response to the masked angry faces was significantly related to the number of angry faces detected. The present findings underscore the role of the amygdala in the detection and consolidation of memory for marginally perceptible threatening facial expression.