Anaïs Nin: A case study of personality disorder and creativity

Anaïs Nin, diarist and author of autobiographical novellas and erotica, and gregarious socialite, was known for her exotic persona and stormy personal life. The concept of personality disorder and the underlying assumption of the buffering capacity that personality affords to stressors are discussed. Against this background, evidence drawn from Nin’s diaries, short stories and two biographies suggests that she conformed to the diagnostic criteria of histrionic personality disorder (HPD), with comorbid borderline and narcissistic features, and numerous Axis I symptoms. The proposed origin of the overall dysfunctional histrionic pattern is attributed to her early developmental history, and the maladaptive cognitive mechanisms of dissociation and repression inferred from her writings and shown to conform to the HPD pattern. Finally, it is argued that while Nin may not have displayed the classic divergent cognitive style thought to underlie the association between schizotypy and creativity, her HPD psychopathology was pivotal in shaping her creative products, most famous of which is her diary.     

What artificial grammar learning reveals about the neurobiology of syntax

In this paper we examine the neurobiological correlates of syntax, the processing of structured sequences, by comparing FMRI results on artificial and natural language syntax. We discuss these and similar findings in the context of formal language and computability theory. We used a simple right-linear unification grammar in an implicit artificial grammar learning paradigm in 32 healthy Dutch university students (natural language FMRI data were already acquired for these participants). We predicted that artificial syntax processing would engage the left inferior frontal region (BA 44/45) and that this activation would overlap with syntax-related variability observed in the natural language experiment. The main findings of this study show that the left inferior frontal region centered on BA 44/45 is active during artificial syntax processing of well-formed (grammatical) sequence independent of local subsequence familiarity. The same region is engaged to a greater extent when a syntactic violation is present and structural unification becomes difficult or impossible. The effects related to artificial syntax in the left inferior frontal region (BA 44/45) were essentially identical when we masked these with activity related to natural syntax in the same subjects. Finally, the medial temporal lobe was deactivated during this operation, consistent with the view that implicit processing does not rely on declarative memory mechanisms that engage the medial temporal lobe. In the context of recent FMRI findings, we raise the question whether Broca’s region (or subregions) is specifically related to syntactic movement operations or the processing of hierarchically nested non-adjacent dependencies in the discussion section. We conclude that this is not the case. Instead, we argue that the left inferior frontal region is a generic on-line sequence processor that unifies information from various sources in an incremental and recursive manner, independent of whether there are any processing requirements related to syntactic movement or hierarchically nested structures. In addition, we argue that the Chomsky hierarchy is not directly relevant for neurobiological systems.     

Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory Revised (TCI-R): a comparative study

The aim of this study was to compare the psychometric properties (normal distribution values, reliabilities and factor structure) of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) and the Temperament and Character Inventory revised (TCI-R). The total sample consisted of 482 subjects (53.1% men and 46.9% women) from diverse age. Results showed somewhat better psychometric properties, like reliability and facet-factor structure, for the ZKA-PQ than the TCI-R. The expected five-factor facet structure of the ZKA-PQ was clear found. However, the seven-factor structure of TCI-R was not clear and it did not show a clear distinction between Temperament and Character factors. When ZKA-PQ and TCI-R variables are analyzed together, the ZKA-PQ factors are related to the Character as well as the Temperament factors. In some cases they represent the opposite poles of ZKA-PQ factors; for example, Neuroticism versus Self-Directiveness and Aggression versus Cooperativeness. Some are directly and highly related to ZKA-PQ factors; for example, Sensation Seeking and Novelty Seeking, Extraversion and Reward Dependence, Neuroticism and Harm Avoidance, and Activity and Persistence.     

Source monitoring in Alzheimer's Disease

Source monitoring is the process of making judgments about the origin of memories. There are three categories of source monitoring: reality monitoring (discrimination between self- versus other-generated sources), external monitoring (discrimination between several external sources), and internal monitoring (discrimination between two types of self-generated sources). We investigated whether Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients, when compared with young and older adults, are impaired at the same level on the three source monitoring categories. We designed three tasks, one for each source monitoring category. In the first task, aimed at reality monitoring, participants had to remember whether objects were previously placed in a bag by themselves or by the experimenter. In the second task, assessing external monitoring, participants had to remember whether the experimenter had previously placed objects in the bag with a black or white gloved hand. In the third task, measuring internal monitoring, participants had to remember whether they had previously placed or imagined themselves placing objects in the bag. Participants showed worse performances in the external and internal monitoring tasks, when compared with reality monitoring. The external monitoring deficit was even more pronounced in AD patients. Regression analyses showed that variation in the external monitoring performances was reliably predicted by inhibition. Our results emphasize the role of inhibitory processes in AD patients' source monitoring decline. The close relation between source and inhibitory decline in AD is interpreted in terms of a common neural base for both concepts.     

Category and letter fluency in semantic dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer's disease

This study examined the impact of various degenerative dementias on access to semantic knowledge and the status of semantic representations. Patients with semantic dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and Alzheimer's disease were compared with elderly controls on tasks of category and letter fluency, with number of words generated, mean lexical frequency and errors recorded. The findings are consistent with the view that category and letter fluency rely on both common and unique cognitive processes. Fluency tasks, with the richness of data obtained, are valuable in distinguishing different dementia syndromes from one another.     

Personality traits of the behavioural approach and inhibition systems: associations with processing of emotional stimuli

This study examined the relationships of the traits associated with Gray's behavioural approach system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) with cognitive processing of emotional information. Initially, participants completed questionnaires covering trait impulsivity and anxiety, and BAS and BIS sensitivities. They were then tested individually. After completing a questionnaire of current positive and negative moods, they completed three tasks measuring processing of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral information. Consistent with Gray’s theory, the results showed that impulsivity and BAS sensitivity were associated with the processing of pleasant information, while anxiety and BIS sensitivity were associated with the processing of unpleasant information. These findings imply that Gray’s BAS–BIS theory can be extended to cognitive processing of emotional information.     

Observaciones sobre la Teoría Psicológica y su Enseñanza

RESUMEN

Este artículo aborda principalmente la situación actual de los estudios de psicología en nuestro país, que el autor considera muy preocupante. Comienza refiriéndose a los cambios producidos en la teoría psicológica en los últimos años, para pasar luego a analizar la situación de la enseñanza de la psicología y proponer algunas modificaciones, destacando como problema fundamental el tipo de docencia que se imparte. Respecto al plan de estudios, el autor considera que debe incluir materias de tipo optativo y de diferente número de horas, presentando sucintamente algunas de las características que podría tener desde el primer año de carrera hasta los estudios de tercer ciclo. Con estas sugerencias el autor propone cómo podría organizarse una enseñanza digna de la psicología.     

Entrevista con Joseph R. Royce

RESUMEN

En esta entrevista J. R. Royce reflexiona con J. M^a Prieto acerca de su historial de investigación, las posibilidades de una síntesis teórica en psicología que incluya los aspectos diferenciales, la organización del Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Psicología Teórica que dirige en la Universidad de Alberta y el enfoque de la Teoría de la Individualidad, a la que dedica sus esfuerzos actuales. El autor explica cómo el planteamiento multifactorial original de esta teoría se ha enriquecido con enfoques provenientes de la Teoría General de Sistemas y de la Teoría de los Procesos de la Información y finaliza con algunas cuestiones acerca de la viabilidad de la misma.