Reflections on research and learning from the patient: the art and science of what we do

Over three decades ago, John Bowlby argued for psychoanalysis to seek beyond its own parameters if it was to maintain its claim to be a science. Since then there has been a wealth of relevant research from various fields. While this has been instrumental in the development of my own work, this paper concerns learning from the patient. The paper begins with a premise: interpretative analytic work requires three‐dimensionality (self, other and object). Although interpretative work may be ingrained in our professional identity, this triangulation may or may not exist in our patients in any stable way. The paper continues with a brief developmental account of how early archetypally‐shaped shifts in the infant's field of interest establish the experiential components of three‐dimensionality. From there, observational and clinical material with a toddler and a young boy describe how early relational deficits hindered their capacities for three‐dimensionality. Yet both were able to engage with the therapist and to become active in the creation of three‐dimensionality within their own minds. Implied in this work are considerations for working with patients for whom interpretations do not work. Michael Fordham's comments on ‘working out of the self’ are linked with the art of what we do.     

Anne Conway and Henry More on Freedom

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to shed light on the often-overlooked account of divine and human freedom presented by Anne Conway in her Principles of the Most Ancient Modern Philosophy, partly through a comparison with the theory of freedom offered by her philosophical mentor, Henry More. After outlining More’s theory of freedom, explored in a number of different works, I argue that, given evidence from correspondence regarding Conway’s familiarity with More’s work, and the timing of the writing of the notes that would be compiled in the Principles, it is highly likely that she has his account of freedom in mind when she offers her own theory of divine and human freedom. Further, I argue that whilst they both agree in attributing substantive freedom to both God and human beings, the Principles crucially departs from More’s philosophy in refraining from limiting freedom to human beings alone but extending it to all creatures. However, I argue that the question of whether Conway follows More in allowing for the possibility of human beings to develop morally to the extent that they attain a good nature and no longer have indifference of the will in a strict sense is unclear.     

The role of the cerebral hemispheres in music.

This review examines the cerebral control of musical behaviors. In clinical populations, impairment of related musical and linguistic functions, such as reading, writing, articulation, time sense, and prosody, implies the likely role of the language hemisphere in music. Similarly, for both clinical and normal populations, an investigation of mental abilities common to music and language points to left hemisphere control for certain aspects of temporal order, duration, simultaneity, rhythm, effector motor control, and categorical perception. While clinical studies have revealed deficits in various kinds of music capabilities with both left and right cerebral lesions, normal subjects similarly demonstrate varying degrees of asymmetry for components of music emphasizing pitch, harmony, timbre, intensity, and rhythm. Since differential laterality effects are apparent as a function of subjects' training or adopted strategies, the way musical information is processed may be an important determinant of hemispheric mediation. One hemisphere should not be regarded as “dominant” for music, but rather each interacts with the other, operating according to its own specialization.     

The retrieval of sentences from memory: A speed-accuracy study

A speed-accuracy tradeoff method was used to study the retrieval dynamics for recognition memory of parts of sentences. All sentences contained a subject, verb, object, location, and time. Recognition accuracy increased from chance at a processing time of about 0.5 sec to asymptotic accuracy at about 3 sec. The asymptotic accuracy levels for subject-verb, subject-object or verb-object recognition probes exceeded those of pair probes containing times or locations. This result suggests that the former may be more closely associated in semantic memory. The only difference among speed-accuracy curves was in asymptotic accuracy. The chance intercept and the rate of increase in accuracy were similar for all pair probes. A second finding was that the speed-accuracy curves for triple probes (e.g., subject-verb-object) were virtually identical to those of the comparable pair probes. These results appear to contradict a serial search hypothesis for the access of information from semantic memory. They support a parallel, direct-access hypothesis.     

The use of English stress assignment rules by children taught either with traditional orthography or with the initial teaching alphabet

This experiment examines children's use of spelling conventions as a guide to pronunciation, and their ability to handle stress assignment rules. The subjects, 7-year-old school children, of whom half had learned to read and write using traditional orthography (t.o.) and half had learned using the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.), read out short simple sentences each containing a two-syllable nonsense word. The grammatical category and the spelling of the nonsense words were varied systematically. It was found that, in assigning stress, both groups of children were influenced by phonemic and grammatical features in a manner similar to that predicted by Chomsky and Halle (1968), but they differed in their handling of the silent final e. It was the i.t.a. children whose use of this orthographic device was more in accordance with Chomsky and Halle's theory, despite their relative lack of experience with it. A comparison with Smith and Baker's (1976) adult subjects indicated substantial differences between adults and children, particularly in their treatment of words with a lax final vowel.     

COSMOLOGY AND THEOLOGY: THE REEMERGENCE OF PATRIARCHY

Abstract. Recent developments in cosmology have enticed several thinkers to follow leads from cosmology into new possibilities in theology and philosophy. Thus, we have seen an increasing number of books and essays offering proposals for creative relations between theology and cosmology. New constructions for theology are appearing that lead us toward a new rationality in theological thinking. This rationality seems especially familiar for anyone working in feminist thought, not so much as a repristination of Enlightenment philosophy and its strongly patriarchal overtones, but rather as a new form of postmodern patriarchy that grows out of revolutions in cosmology, mathematics, and quantum physics. This sense should be tested especially by comparing these new “theologies” with other feminist visions or alternative perspectives. This comparison will not only uncover signs of a reemergence of patriarchy within the new cosmologies, but will also suggest ways in which new cosmological views can both provide a source for new creative thinking in theology and be sensitive to the best of feminist thought.     

Can We Forget What We Know in a False‐Belief Task? An Investigation of the True‐Belief Default

It has been generally assumed in the Theory of Mind literature of the past 30 years that young children fail standard false‐belief tasks because they attribute their own knowledge to the protagonist (what Leslie and colleagues called a “true‐belief default”). Contrary to the traditional view, we have recently proposed that the children's bias is task induced. This alternative view was supported by studies showing that 3 year olds are able to pass a false‐belief task that allows them to focus on the protagonist, without drawing their attention to the target object in the test phase. For a more accurate comparison of these two accounts, the present study tested the true‐belief default with adults. Four experiments measuring eye movements and response inhibition revealed that (a) adults do not have an automatic tendency to respond to the false‐belief question according to their own knowledge and (b) the true‐belief response need not be inhibited in order to correctly predict the protagonist's actions. The positive results observed in the control conditions confirm the accuracy of the various measures used. I conclude that the results of this study undermine the true‐belief default view and those models that posit mechanisms of response inhibition in false‐belief reasoning. Alternatively, the present study with adults and recent studies with children suggest that participants' focus of attention in false‐belief tasks may be key to their performance.     

Robots and the Sacred in Science and Science Fiction: Theological Implications of Artificial Intelligence

In science-fiction literature and film, human beings simultaneously feel fear and allure in the presence of intelligent machines, an experience that approximates the numinous experience as described in 1917 by Rudolph Otto. Otto believed that two chief elements characterize the numinous experience: the mysterium tremendum and the fascinans. Briefly, the mysterium tremendum is the fear of God's wholly other nature and the fascinans is the allure of God's saving grace. Science-fiction representations of robots and artificially intelligent computers follow this logic of threatening otherness and soteriological promise. Science fiction offers empirical support for Anne Foerst's claim that human beings experience fear and fascination in the presence of advanced robots from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AI Lab. The human reaction to intelligent machines shows that human beings in many respects have elevated those machines to divine status. This machine apotheosis, an interesting cultural event for the history of religions, may—despite Foerst's rosy interpretation—threaten traditional Christian theologies.