Psychoedukation bei Personen mit erh?htem Psychoserisiko

Background

So far only few studies are available which have evaluated the effectiveness of psychoeducation for individuals at risk of psychosis in the early initial prodromal state (EIPS) whereas the benefit of psychoeducation in psychotic patients has been repeatedly confirmed. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of psychoeducation in individuals with increased risk of psychosis in the EIPS.

Method

A total of 128 help-seeking outpatients in the EIPS participated in a randomized controlled multicentre trial of 12 months of either psychoeducation as part of an integrated psychological intervention (IPI) or supportive counseling (SC). The time to transition to psychosis at 12-month and 24-month follow-up as well as the social adjustment at baseline, time of transition or post-treatment by means of the social adjustment scale (SAS?II) were assessed.

Results

The IPI was superior to SC in preventing progression to psychosis at 12-month (3.2% versus 16.9%, p?=0.008) and 24-month follow-up (6.3% versus 20.0%, p?=0.019). Both treatments resulted in significant pre-post improvements in SAS?II with no significant differences between the two groups.

Conclusions

Psychoeducation as part of an integrated intervention is effective for preventing the onset of psychosis over a 24-month time period in people in an EIPS. Moreover patients at risk of developing first episode psychosis seem to benefit from a specific psychoeducational intervention in the context of other treatments as well as from SC.     

Psychological research and the prostate-cancer screening controversy

In October of 2011, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a draft report in which they recommended against using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for prostate cancer. We attempt to show that four factors documented by psychological research can help explain the furor that followed the release of the task force's report. These factors are the persuasive power of anecdotal (as opposed to statistical) evidence, the influence of personal experience, the improper evaluation of data, and the influence of low base rates on the efficacy of screening tests. We suggest that augmenting statistics with facts boxes or pictographs might help such committees communicate more effectively with the public and with the U.S. Congress.     

When hearing turns into playing: Movement induction by auditory stimuli in pianists

In this study, pianists were tested for learned associations between actions (movements on the piano) and their perceivable sensory effects (piano tones). Actions were examined that required the playing of two-tone sequences (intervals) in a four-choice paradigm. In Experiment 1, the intervals to be played were denoted by visual note stimuli. Concurrently with these imperative stimuli, task-irrelevant auditory distractor intervals were presented (“potential” action effects, congruent or incongruent). In Experiment 2, imperative stimuli were coloured squares, in order to exclude possible influences of spatial relationships of notes, responses, and auditory stimuli. In both experiments responses in the incongruent conditions were slower than those in the congruent conditions. Also, heard intervals actually “induced” false responses. The reaction time effects were more pronounced in Experiment 2. In nonmusicians (Experiment 3), no evidence for interference could be observed. Thus, our results show that in expert pianists potential action effects are able to induce corresponding actions, which demonstrates the existence of acquired action-effect associations in pianists.     

Nachtrag zu dem kritischen Referat «Gestalt und Kontrast»

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Versuch einer gemeinsamen Theorie der Phänomene Fröhlichs und Hazelhoffs und Kritik ihrer Verfahren zur Messung der Empfindungszeit

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine neue, gemeinsame Theorie des Fröhlich-Phänomens und des Hazelhoff-Phänomens zur Diskussion gestellt. Und zwar werden beide Erscheinungen als Sonderfälle des Heßschen Phänomens erklärt. Sie sind beide durch die Annahme erklärbar, da eine Stoerregung, und damit auch der Einsatz einer stationären Erregung, eine längere E.Z. oder Verarbeitungszeit hat als die stationäre Erregung in ihrem späteren Verlauf. Den funktionalen Charakter einer stationären Erregung haben, wenn unsere Erklärung richtig ist, auch solche Vorgänge, bei denen jede einzelne Nervenendigung nur von einem Storeiz getroffen wird, aber derart, daß diese Stoßreize benachbarte Nervenendigungen unmittelbar nacheinander (der Reihe nach) treffen. Von der Auffassung aus, daß die Erregungen in benachbarten Nerven bis zuletzt streng isoliert verlaufen, sind solche Verhältnisse nicht zu verstehen. Sie sind aber selbstverständlich für die Auffassung (die in der Gestalttheorie schon seit Jahren vertreten wird und die sich auf Grund eigener langjähriger Versuche kürzlich auch Lashley zu eigen gemacht hat), da die funktionalen physiologischen Einheilen nicht mit den anatomischen Einheiten des Nervensystems zusammenfallen und nicht an sie gebunden sind.Die Benützung der erörterten Phänomene zur Berechnung der absoluten Empfindungszeit beruht in beiden Fällen auf der irrtümlichen Voraussetzung, daß es Wahrnehmungen gebe, deren E.Z. Null ist. G. E. Müllers, Wirths und Rubins Kritik an dem Verfahren Fröhlichs gilt also in sinngemäßer Übertragung auch für das Verfahren Hazelhoffs. Es gibt nach wie vor kein Verfahren, die absolute Empfindungszeit zu bestimmen.     

The puzzle of transparency and how to solve it

ABSTRACT

According to the transparency approach, achievement of self-knowledge is a two-stage process: first, the subject arrives at the judgment ‘p’; second, the subject proceeds to the judgment ‘I believe that p.’ The puzzle of transparency is to understand why the transition from the first to the second judgment is rationally permissible. After revisiting the debate between Byrne and Boyle on this matter, I present a novel solution according to which the transition is rationally permissible in virtue of a justifying argument that begins from a premise referring to the mental utterance that is emitted in the course of judging ‘p.’