Introduction to IARPP Plenary Panel,Toronto, June 2015

These brief remarks introduce the symposium on Power and Authority, with clinical material by Francesca Colzani and discussions by Irwin Hoffman, Susanna Federici Nebbiosi, and Gillian Straker. I am glad we have the opportunity in this symposium to discuss power and authority in the clinical situation, because while this subject has been a center of interest for relational psychoanalysts since the inception of the relational perspective, explicit attention has not been paid to the topic in the recent past. Yet power and authority are always present and always important in our activities—in every clinical session, every supervision session, and every page we write. This symposium is composed of an incisive and moving clinical report by Francesca Colzani, followed by discussions by Irwin Hoffman, Susanna Federici Nebbiosi, and Gill Straker.     

Behavioral alterations in mice lacking the translation repressor 4E-BP2

The requirement for de novo protein synthesis during multiple forms of learning, memory and behavior is well-established; however, we are only beginning to uncover the regulatory mechanisms that govern this process. In order to determine how translation initiation is regulated during neuroplasticity we engineered mutant C57Bl/6J mice that lack the translation repressor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 2 (4E-BP2) and have previously demonstrated that 4E-BP2 plays a critical role in hippocampus-dependent synaptic plasticity and memory. Herein, we examined the 4E-BP2 knockout mice in a battery of paradigms to address motor activity and motor skill learning, anxiety and social dominance behaviors, working memory and conditioned taste aversion. We found that the 4E-BP2 knockout mice demonstrated altered activity in the rotating rod test, light/dark exploration test, spontaneous alternation T-maze and conditioned taste aversion test. The information gained from these studies builds a solid foundation for future studies on the specific role of 4E-BP2 in various types of behavior, and for a broader, more detailed examination of the mechanisms of translational control in the brain.     

Individual differences in chess expertise: a psychometric investigation

Starting from controversies over the role of general individual characteristics (especially intelligence) for the attainment of expert performance levels, a comprehensive psychometric investigation of individual differences in chess expertise is presented. A sample of 90 adult tournament chess players of varying playing strengths (1311-2387 ELO) was screened with tests on intelligence and personality variables; in addition, experience in chess play, tournament participation, and practice activities were assessed. Correlation and regression analyses revealed a clear-cut moderate relationship between general (and in particular numerical) intelligence and the participants' playing strengths, suggesting that expert chess play does not stand in isolation from superior mental abilities. The strongest predictor of the attained expertise level, however, was the participants' chess experience which highlights the relevance of long-term engagement for the development of expertise. Among all analysed personality dimensions, only domain-specific performance motivation and emotion expression control incrementally contributed to the prediction of playing strength. In total, measures of chess experience, current tournament activity, intelligence, and personality accounted for about 55% of variance in chess expertise. The present results suggest that individual differences in chess expertise are multifaceted and cannot be reduced to differences in domain experience.     

Vulnerability to loneliness among fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder: The role of interpersonal and familial resources

Fathers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might be at increased risk of becoming lonely. In the current study, we explored the differences in loneliness between fathers of children with and without ASD and identified interpersonal and familial resources (social support, family cohesion, and family adaptability) that might be related to levels of loneliness. Using a cross-sectional design, 348 fathers (of 114 children with ASD and 234 without) completed a series of questionnaires. Fathers of children with ASD reported higher levels of loneliness and lower levels of social support and family cohesion. A moderated mediation model indicated that the interaction between social support and family cohesion mediated the association between ASD group (i.e., ASD vs. non-ASD) and fathers' loneliness. Findings suggest the importance of interpersonal and familial resources (e.g., perceived social support and family cohesion) for family members at risk of loneliness.     

Constructivism in the Age of Trump: Truth,Lies, and Knowing the Difference

Donald Trump lies so often that some have wondered whether he has poisoned the well. Can we continue to defend the constructivism of relational psychoanalysis, with its emphasis on interpretive understanding? Might it not be claimed that this is actually the very approach Trump himself takes? Does an openness to interpretive understanding allow anybody to just say anything, as Trump does? Would our views perhaps be more justified and defensible, and give less shelter to the world’s liars, if we shifted to a reliance on objectivism and its advocacy of “facts?” I say no. I take the point of view, drawing illustrations from the news of the months just before this presentation was delivered (June 2018), that the crucial democratic influence of constructivism not only persists when despotic leaders lie in order to enforce their agendas, it is actually magnified under circumstances like those we face now.     

Unformulated experience,dissociation, and Nachträglichkeit

The paper is divided into two parts. The first part is an interpersonal/relational psychoanalytic account of some relationships between dissociation, time, and unformulated experience. Trauma, and the dissociation to which trauma leads, freezes time, which makes it impossible to formulate certain kinds of new experience. Instead, potential new meanings remain unformulated. The route of clinical access to frozen time is the interpersonal field: to thaw time and allow new experience, the ways in which the interpersonal field is itself frozen need to be addressed. A clinical illustration of these ideas is offered. The second part of the paper presents and explores a point of confluence between the views in Part 1 and certain aspects of French psychoanalysis, with particular reference to the concept of Nachträglichkeit in the work of Jean Laplanche and Haydée Faimberg.     

Intergenerational Transmission of Violence: Shattered Subjectivity and Relational Freedom

This article considers a relational perspective regarding the intergenerational transmission of the trauma of violence. The psychoanalytic literature suggests that parents often transmit the trauma of violence to their children in the form of projected nameless dread and unmentalized states that interfere with the children's emotional needs and support. The offspring absorbs the trauma, which manifests itself in the form of disorganized attachment and in turn leads to the development of a predisposition toward cocoon-like dissociative states. This study considers two clinical cases that examine the interpersonal dynamics of dissociative processes. The therapist's reverie about his ancestors' survival of depersonalizing violence and Winnicott's concept of the survival and the use of the object help the therapist find his or her identity and gain the relational freedom needed to overcome the dissociative state, thereby becoming an alive subject who is able to help the child patient.     

A validation of eye movements as a measure of elementary school children's developing number sense

The number line estimation task captures central aspects of children's developing number sense, that is, their intuitions for numbers and their interrelations. Previous research used children's answer patterns and verbal reports as evidence of how they solve this task. In the present study we investigated to what extent eye movements recorded during task solution reflect children's use of the number line. By means of a cross-sectional design with 66 children from Grades 1, 2, and 3, we show that eye-tracking data (a) reflect grade-related increase in estimation competence, (b) are correlated with the accuracy of manual answers, (c) relate, in Grade 2, to children's addition competence, (d) are systematically distributed over the number line, and (e) replicate previous findings concerning children's use of counting strategies and orientation-point strategies. These findings demonstrate the validity and utility of eye-tracking data for investigating children's developing number sense and estimation competence.