Alcoholic Korsakoff patients' retrieval from semantic memory

Alcoholic Korsakoff patients' rate of retrieval from semantic memory was investigated. It was found that their rate of retrieval from “lexical” semantic memory was nearly normal, but their rate of retrieval from “conceptual” semantic memory was impaired. In addition, an attempt to “prime” their lexical semantic memory by requesting the same category to be searched on adjacent trials met with failure. It was concluded that Korsakoff patients' lexical storage is probably organized normally, but their conceptual organization is not. Parallels with these patients' episodic memory impairments are discussed and possible interactions between episodic and semantic memory are proposed.     

黑暗人格特质与知识共享敌意的关系：员工关系和人际信任的链式中介作用

为了考察黑暗人格、员工关系、人际信任与知识共享敌意之间的关系,研究基于“特质-心理状态-行为”模型,采用问卷对307名企业员工进行调查研究。结果表明：（1）黑暗人格能显著负向预测情感性关系,显著正向预测工具性关系和知识共享敌意;（2）情感性关系显著正向预测人际信任,人际信任显著负向预测知识共享敌意;工具性关系显著正向预测知识共享敌意;（3）情感性关系和人际信任在黑暗人格与知识共享敌意之间起链式中介作用;工具性关系在黑暗人格与知识共享敌意之间起中介作用。     

母亲的情景特异性归因与儿童问题行为:儿童消极情绪的调节作用

以67对3~6岁的儿童及其母亲为研究对象,通过假设情景法探索母亲对不同情景下儿童问题行为的归因方式,并考察这种特定情景下的归因对儿童后续问题行为的影响,以及儿童消极情绪的调节作用。研究发现:(1)母亲对儿童不同问题行为的稳定性归因和不可控归因存在情景上的差异;(2)母亲的不可控归因和稳定性归因可以影响儿童内隐问题行为的发展且受到儿童消极情绪的影响,但母亲的归因方式不可以预测儿童的外显问题行为。     

Differential cognitive substrates of verbal episodic memory performance in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease

Performance on neuropsychological measures of verbal memory requires cognitive abilities beyond memory. We examined the contribution of semantic knowledge in verbal episodic memory for semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 415 AD and 68 svPPA participants completed measures of episodic memory (visual and verbal) and semantic knowledge. A double dissociation existed visual recall predicted verbal recognition in AD, whereas semantic knowledge contributed to verbal recognition in svPPA.     

The usefulness of the averaging rule in consumer studies: A partial replication with an eye at neuroeconomics

IntroductionInformation Integration Theory models how different pieces of information are combined by people into unified judgments. Its contribution to decision-making and to consumer studies distinctly relies on a set of empirically established algebraic models for reflecting the cognitive structure of judgments and decisions (cognitive algebra). Among these, the averaging model has particular properties, allowing for operationally distinguishing between the elusive notions of psychological value and importance.ObjectivesThe main goal of the paper is to support the applicability and robustness of the averaging model in consumer studies, by partially replicating a published study that documented averaging. Additionally, it tentatively explores potential contributions of the averaging model to neuroeconomics, by simultaneously recording ratings and electroencephalographic (EEG) responses.MethodsTwenty-five participants rated on a satisfaction scale (format 0-20) a set of experimental conditions arising from the full factorial combination of three levels of sneakers’ branded models and three levels of purchase prices, expanded with conditions in which brands were presented in isolation (sub-design). Simultaneous electrophysiological monitoring was performed with an EEG mask (international system 10-20, referenced to the mastoid apophyses). Segmentation and processing of evoked response potentials were done in Matlab. Both ratings and magnitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) components were analyzed through inspection of the factorial plots with the support of repeated-measures ANOVAs.ResultsThe rating responses revealed an averaging model, with equal weighting in a cluster of subjects and differential weighting in another, but more overall importance of the branded model variable in both cases. The only tentative suggestions of relevant neural correlates involved the LPP and P300 components of the ERP and a reduced number of EEG channels (P4, P3, Fz and T3).ConclusionsThe averaging model is robustly applicable and useful in consumer studies, both for measurement (value and importance) and consumer segmentation (cognitively based clusterization) purposes. While calling attention to the later components of the ERP at specific topographies, the paucity of EEG results suggests that ERP peak amplitude may not be a useful measure for the purpose. Apart from that, a functional measurement approach to neuroeconomics seems feasible in principle and an explorable path in the future.     

Short‐term psychodynamic infant–parent interventions at Child health centers: Outcomes on parental depression and infant social–emotional functioning

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrate efficacy of parent–infant psychotherapy, but its applicability and effectiveness in public health care are less known. The method followed is Naturalistic study evaluating Short‐term Psychodynamic Infant–Parent Interventions at Child Health Centers (SPIPIC) in Stockholm, Sweden. One hundred distressed mothers with infants were recruited by supervised nurses. Six therapists provided 4.3 therapy sessions on average (SD = 3.3). Sessions typically included the mothers, often with the baby present, while fathers rarely attended sessions. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social–Emotional (ASQ: SE) were distributed at baseline and at 3 and 9 months later. Data from a nonclinical group were collected simultaneously to provide norm data. Multilevel growth models on the mothers’ questionnaire scores showed significant decreases over time on both measures. Nine months after baseline, 50% achieved a reliable change on the EPDS and 14% on the ASQ: SE. Prepost effect‐sizes (d) were 0.70 and 0.40 for EPDS and ASQ: SE, figures that are comparable to results of other controlled studies. Psychotherapists integrated with public health care seem to achieve good results when supporting distressed mothers with brief interventions in the postnatal period. SPIPIC needs to be compared with other modalities and organizational frameworks.     

The Milan Approach,History, and Evolution

The two authors intend to underline the continuities and discontinuities that organize the Milan Approach, after the splitting from Selvini Palazzoli and Prata; they intend to tell the teachings of Luigi Boscolo and Gianfranco Cecchin from the beginning of training in 1978 till nowadays. After having spoken of some important stages in the work till the death of the two masters, the article underlines two major new aspects. 1. We speak about the corporeal turn: embodied experience as preconceptual know‐how from which concepts are structured. We speak about the connections between bodies and social issues that enact forms of knowledge and understanding. 2. In this period of war, violence, and tyranny, we speak about epistemology and ontology as complementary stances: the need to let others disclose themselves, by allowing them to speak their own terms of engagement. The therapeutic effort is one of deactivating the dangers of one’s own presuppositions and prejudices that limit one’s capacity to describe and make hypothesis. There are social ontologies, communities with strong moral intensity, historical and social realities that need therapists to take position, since they need to take side and be aware of the categories they utilize. Historical and social ontology deals with the continuous change of symptoms in connection to the continuous change of the social panorama in the context we live in. We live by the bodies we are.