The darkroom of the mind — what does neuropsychology now tell us about brands?

How does a brand live and die in the memory? Where does the concept of a relationship with a brand fit into mental activity? What are thoughts, emotions and feelings and do people have them about brands in any meaningful way? What should one think about such concepts as consciousness and the unconscious in relation to brands and brand messages? Is the way in which managers of brands codify them a reflection of reality? These are only some of the fundamental questions that should concern professionals involved with organisations and brands. This paper draws on scientific discoveries about the human brain to build on the empirical knowledge that leaders in organisations, marketers, academics and researchers have gained about brands over the last five decades. The first part of the paper highlights the inconsistencies that occur between what is found in the development and evaluation of brand strategy and what happens in ‘real life’. It suggests that the newly merged disciplines of neuroscience and cognitive psychology (called neuropsychology) offer the scientific basis for understanding how human beings create, store, recall and relate to brands in everyday life. The second part explains some of the most relevant neuropsychological discoveries about the brain in terms of the implications for brand marketing. The topics covered are: brain functions and structure; consciousness and the unconscious; memory and language. The paper concludes by thinking about the current practise of qualitative research and how it matches up to the findings of the new science. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Correspondence Results for Relational Proof Systems with Application to the Lambek Calculus

We present a general framework for proof systems for relational theories. We discuss principles of the construction of deduction rules and correspondences reflecting relationships between semantics of relational logics and the rules of the respective proof systems. We illustrate the methods developed in the paper with examples relevant for the Lambek calculus and some of its extensions.     

Gender-moderated dorsolateral prefrontal reductions in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: implications for risk for schizophrenia.

To investigate the impact of the microdeletion on morphology of the prefrontal cortex in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2 DS), high-resolution, anatomic magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 19 children and adolescents with 22q11.2 DS (11 females, 8 males) and 18 unaffected controls (10 females, 8 males). Tissue volumes of the dorsolateral, dorsomedial, orbitolateral, and orbitomedial prefrontal cortex were measured. Tasks of executive function and working memory were administered to investigate the association between anatomy and function. Whole brain volume and frontal lobe tissue volume were preserved in girls but reduced in boys with 22q11.2 DS relative to age-matched controls. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volumes were reduced in participants with 22q11.2 DS, although the gender-by-diagnosis effect found for frontal lobe was not as robust for DLPFC. DLPFC volumes were associated with performance on tasks of planning and emotional facial recognition. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether gender differences in frontal lobe and DLPFC persist with development, and whether the volumes of the DLPFC are associated with eventual deterioration in adaptive/psychosocial function that may presage the onset of schizophrenia, for which individuals with 22q11.2 DS are at a disproportionately high risk.     

Antecedents and consequences of mothers' autonomy support: an experimental investigation.

This study examined the effects of contextual and individual differences on mothers' autonomy support versus control on homeworklike tasks. Sixty mothers and their third-grade children worked on map and poem tasks, with mothers in either an ego-involving (high pressure) or a non-ego-involving (low pressure) condition. Later, children worked on similar tasks themselves. Mothers in the high-pressure condition were more controlling on the poem task. For the map task, mothers who came in with controlling styles and received the high-pressure manipulation were most controlling. Children whose mothers interacted in a more controlling manner wrote less creative poems when alone. Results suggest the importance of context, children's competence levels, and mothers' styles in determining levels of autonomy support.     

Youth Suicide Intervention Using the Satir Model

Youth suicide is a social issue that needs serious consideration among families, therapists and helping professionals. This article presents an actual case of a youth who completed suicide, and discussion of the hypothetical Satir model treatment of this youth while alive. The Satir model has numerous interventions that have current applications toward dealing with suicidal youth in a humanist and hopeful way, fostering youths' desire to live and to become more positively involved in their lives. In the past, Satir focused on coping stances in communication, and now the coping stances give a deeper understanding into the internal world.     

Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and the Balance of Peer Support Among Persons With Chronic Mental Health Problems

Despite several suggestions that peer support is empowering for persons with mental health problems because of its mutual nature, few studies have empirically studied the role of its reciprocity and the effects on subjective well-being of clients from mainstream mental health care settings. Using data of 628 users of vocational and psychiatric rehabilitation centers ( N  = 51) in Flanders, the effects of the reciprocity of peer support on self-esteem and self-efficacy are explored by testing hypotheses derived from the theories of exchange, social capital, equity, and self-esteem enhancement. Results show that providing peer support is more beneficial than receiving it. One conclusion is that the net beneficial effects of receiving support from peers are overestimated.