Elasticity of Technique: The Psychoanalytic Project and the Trajectory of Ferenczi's Life

The object of this paper is the Elasticity of Psychoanalytic Technique in the work of Sándor Ferenczi. The author sustains that this can be considered neither as an ultimate arrival point nor as a particular stage of Ferenczi's clinical–theoretical body of work, but rather as an ensemble of affective qualities, attitudes and values, which he gradually developed through experience, signalling a paradigm shift in the history of psychoanalysis. The following areas will be explored: the new sensitivity demonstrated by Ferenczi concerning the relational and communicative factors present in the analytic session, his subtle and acute attention to the participation of the analyst's own subjectivity in the therapeutic process, and how these enduring elements of Ferenczi's technique anticipate several significant future developments in psychoanalysis.     

Divergence between community psychologists in academic and nonacademic settings: A closer look at the implications

The ecological principle of interdependence has been a guiding theme in our research and conceptualization. For the development of community psychology, academic and applied interest and networks must be integrated in ways which value the views and resources of both groups. This is the focus of Kelly's (1984) remarks. The dynamic interplay of ideas, data, and practices is likely to facilitate the collaboration between researchers and setting inhabitants which Trickett (1984) describes as the distinctive quality of community psychology. Common pathways of information exchange, joint responsibility for training future members of the field, and mutually enhancing role relationships are needed. Current channels of communication provide little ease of access or incentives for participation by psychologists in nonacademic settings. It thus becomes the reponsibility of all concerned community psychologists to use their organizational skills to redress this harmful imbalance (Kelly, 1984). For this to occur, however, we must take the initial steps of frankly recognizing differences in our folkways and organizational constraints, while also emphasizing our common values and assets. The largest threat to the field is external constraints from university and clinical service settings on the work that represents community psychology (Elias et al., 1984). If we are dividedor uninformed in the face of these environmental presses, we will never create the adaptive niche that community psychology needs to survive.     

The undecidability of the first-order theory of diagonalizable algebras

The undecidability of the first-order theory of diagonalizable algebras is shown here.     

Music-to-language transfer effect: may melodic ability improve learning of tonal languages by native nontonal speakers?

In tonal languages, as Mandarin Chinese and Thai, word meaning is partially determined by lexical tones. Previous studies suggest that lexical tones are processed by native listeners as linguistic information and not as pure tonal information. This study aims at verifying if, in nontonal languages speakers, the discrimination of lexical Mandarin tones varies in function of the melodic ability. Forty-six students with no previous experience of Mandarin or any other tonal language were presented with two short lists of spoken monosyllabic Mandarin words and invited to perform a same–different task trying to identify whether the variation were phonological or tonal. Main results show that subjects perform significantly better in identifying phonological variations rather than tonal ones and interestingly, the group with a high melodic ability (assessed by Wing subtest 3) shows a better performance exclusively in detecting tonal variations.     

Using artificial life to teach evolutionary biology

This paper presents a pilot study on the use of artificial life software in an educational setting. Two groups of high school students received a standard lesson in evolutionary biology followed by a software session. The experimental group used the suite of artificial life software presented in this paper; the control group used a commercial multimedia hypertext. At the end of the software session both groups were asked to fill in a simple multiple-choice questionnaire testing the students knowledge of various aspects of evolutionary biology. The results show that the group using the artificial life software performed significantly better than the control group. We argue that the experimental group may learn more effectively because the artificial life makes it possible for students to perform experiments, a possibility not available to the control group.

Selective Abolition of the NMDA Component of Long-Term Potentiation in Mice Lacking mGluR5

The mechanisms underlying the differential expression of long-term potentiation (LTP) by AMPA and NMDA receptors, are unknown, but could involve G-protein-linked metabotropic glutamate receptors. To investigate this hypothesis we created mutant mice that expressed no metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5), but showed normal development. In an earlier study of these mice we analyzed field-excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSPs) in CA1 region of the hippocampus and found a small decrease; possibly arising from changes in the NMDAR-mediated component of synaptic transmission. In the present study we used whole-cell patch clamp recordings of evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) in CA1 pyramidal neurons to identify the AMPAR- and NMDAR-mediated components of LTP. Recordings from control mice following tetanus, or agonist application (IS, 3R-1-amino-cyclopentane 1,3-dicarboxylic acid) (ACPD), revealed equal enhancement of the AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated components. In contrast, CA1 neurons from mGluR5-deficient mice showed a complete loss of the NMDA-receptor-mediated component of LTP (LTP_NMDA), but normal LTP of the AMPA-receptor-mediated component (LTP_AMPA). This selective loss of LTP_NMDA was seen in three different genotypic backgrounds and was apparent at all holding potentials (−70 mV to +20 mV). Furthermore, the LTP_NMDA deficit in mGluR5 mutant mice could be rescued by stimulating protein kinase C (PKC) with 4β-phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu). These results suggest that PKC may couple the postsynaptic mGluR5 to the NMDA-receptor potentiation during LTP, and that this signaling mechanism is distinct from LTP_AMPA. Differential enhancement of AMPAR and NMDA receptors by mGluR5 also supports a postsynaptic locus for LTP.     

The Acquaintance Predicament of a Rape Victim1

The acquaintance predicament of a rape victim was examined in six experiments with between-subjects designs with samples drawn from the undergraduate student population of the University of Bombay. The experiments used rape vignettes for the manipulation of all independent variables except subject's sex and were done in three pairs such that each pair had the same independent variables and first dependent measure, namely, recommended years of imprisonment for the rapist. The second dependent measure was attributed victim's fault in the first experiment and perceived likelihood of rape in the second experiment of each pair. The first pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (acquainted vs. unacquainted rapist) × 3 (rapist's status: manager, stenotypist, or watchman) × 2 (complaint vs. no complaint by victim) design, with the rape victim being described as a stenotypist. The second pair of experiments differed from the first pair in only one respect, with victim's marital status (married vs. divorced victim) replacing the independent variable of complaint of the first pair. The third pair of experiments had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (physically hurt vs. not hurt victim) × 5 (rapist's relationship with victim: husband, fiance, friend, acquaintance, or stranger) design. Female subjects, as compared to male subjects, recommended longer imprisonment for the rapist, attributed less fault to the victim, and perceived greater likelihood of rape. The victim was attributed less fault in case of stranger rape versus acquaintance rape and also less fault in the complaint versus the no complaint condition. Longer imprisonment was recommended for the rapist when the victim was physically hurt rather than not hurt.