Effects of Prenatal X-irradiation on Open-Field Behavior in Rats: Application of Randomized Fostering Technique and Mapping Results

Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were given X-irradiation (150 R) on Day 17 of gestation. After birth, all male pups were pooled once and then assigned randomly to irradiated mothers and control mothers. Offspring were administered an open-field test at about 7 weeks of age. The analysis was performed on the basis of two approaches: In the per subject approach, individual subject data (aggregation across Day 2 through Day 4) were treated as the basic unit of statistical analysis. In the per litter approach, double aggregation (aggregation across Day 2 through Day 4 for each subject and aggregation across subjects within each litter) was used. The per subject approach was slightly more sensitive as to the treatment effect, but it induced a reduction in the magnitude of eta squared. A principal component analysis was performed using eta squared together with those of several reference groups. Results were plotted on a map constructed from component scores. The characteristics of behavior in X-irradiated rats were very similar to those of the earlier stage of trials in terms of the location on the map. The postnatal maternal effect on open-field behavior was not serious and was adequately negligible in practice. A new fostering procedure was proposed and its advantages discussed.     

Age Differences in Coping Resources and Satisfaction With Life Among Middle-Aged,Young-Old,and Oldest-Old Adults

The authors examined age differences in perceived coping resources and satisfaction with life across 3 older-adult age groups (45-64, 65-74, and 75 years and older). The 98 participants represented healthy, socially active, community-residing adults. Group comparisons were made on 12 individual coping scales, and an overall coping resource effectiveness score was computed. No significant differences were found for 11 of the coping resources or for overall coping resource effectiveness. Similar consistencies in life satisfaction were found across the 3 age groups. The findings indicate that (a) for healthy adults, the oldest old cope at least as effectively as their younger counterparts, despite their likelihood of encountering increased levels of stress; and (b) psychologically, old age may be viewed as a time of resilience and fortitude.     

Bartlett Revisited: Reconfiguration of Long-Term Memory in Young and Older Adults

This study was performed after the tradition of F. C. Bartlett (1932), who demonstrated that memory reconfigures over time. The authors investigated the memory of young and older adults to examine the degree to which the aging process influences reconfigurative tendencies. From an initial sample of 53 participants, 20 young and 19 older adults completed 6 tests of recall for Bartlett's original text materials over an 84-day period. Consistent with the broad conclusions of Bartlett's study, reconfiguration was observed: Both young and older adults introduced errors into memory. Older adult recall was lower overall than that of young adults, and recall performance diminished over time. However, there was no difference between the performances of young and older adults with respect to incorrectly recalled intrusive elements.     

The Development of Attribute Dominance in the Knowledge Base

Two cuing, free-recall studies were conducted to test Bach and Underwood's (1970) hypothesis that acoustic encoding is dominant among second graders and semantic encoding is dominant among sixth graders. When retrieval cues were presented with to-be-remembered items at both input and output (Experiment 1), and when cues were presented only at output (Experiment 2), semantic cues were more efficient in elevating recall than were acoustic cues for both second and sixth graders. When these and other results generally found using recognition, sorting, incidental learning, and free-recall experimental designs are compared, it seems plausible that item presentation and memory-testing formats interact with age, and that these factors account for the different patterns of attribute dominance found in the literature. The knowledge base cannot be understood by focusing on either subject or task analyses, but only by focusing on interactions between subject and task variables as they change over time. The educational implications for young grade-school children are discussed.     

Effect of Age and Gender in the Control of Elbow Flexion Movements

In previous studies of rapid elbow movements in young healthy men, characteristic task-dependent changes in the patterns of muscle activation when movement speed or distance was varied have been reported. In the present study, the authors investigated whether age or gender is associated with changes in the patterns of muscle activity previously reported in young men. Arm movements of 10 healthy older and 10 healthy younger participants (5 men and 5 women in each group) were studied. Surface electromyograms (EMGs) from agonist (biceps) and antagonist (triceps) muscles, kinematic and kinetic parameters, as well as anthropometric and strength measures were recorded. All 4 groups of participants showed similar task- (distance or speed) dependent changes in biphasic EMG activity. Similar modulation of the initial rate of rise of the EMG, integrated agonist and antagonist EMG activity, as well as their relative timing were observed in all 4 groups. Those results suggest that older individuals of both genders retain the control strategies for elbow movements used by young individuals. Despite the qualitative similarities in the patterns of muscle activation, the men moved more quickly than the women, and younger participants moved more quickly than older participants. Those performance differences could not be explained in terms of differences in body size and strength alone.     

Age-Related Changes in Grip Force and Dynamics of Hand Movement

The authors investigated whether older adults (n = 16; mean age = 65 years) increased grip force to compensate for load force fluctuations during up and down movements more than young adults did (n = 16; mean age = 24 years) and whether older and young adults exhibited similar adaptation of grip force to alterations in friction associated with changes in object surface texture. As previously reported, older adults used a higher level of grip force than young adults during static holding. Increased grip force was observed in the older group during movement. The increase was appropriate to the lower coefficient of friction estimated for the older group. In both groups, grip force was greater with a smooth than with a rough surface (the latter having the higher coefficient of friction) during static holding and during movement. Moreover, grip force modulation was equally well synchronized with load force fluctuation during movement in the two groups. The authors concluded that changes in organization of grip force with age are well adapted to change in hand-object interface properties. Elevated grip force in older adults does not necessarily signify a fundamental change in synchronizing grip force modulation with load force fluctuation.     

Effects of Electromyostimulation on Knee Extensors and Flexors Strength and Steadiness in Older Adults

It is known that electromyostimulation (EMS) alone or superimposed over voluntary contraction (EV) can effectively improve muscle strength. However, the effect of this type of training on the ability to control force production at submaximal levels is unknown. The authors examined the effects of EV training on steadiness in force production of knee extensors and flexors in older adults. Forty participants, including 20 men and 20 women, 60–77 years of age, were randomly allocated into a control group (CG) and an electromyostimulation superimposed over voluntary contraction (EVG) group. The EVG performed 30 bilateral isometric knee extension and flexion contractions per session, 3 training sessions per week, for 6 weeks. The variations in force production, expressed in absolute (standard deviation [SD]) and relative (coefficient of variation [CV]) terms, were assessed in isometric contractions at 5%, 15% and 25% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) levels. Results indicated that MVC increased in knee extension and flexion in EVG (p < .05) after the training; steadiness CV also improved at 15% MVC in knee flexion (p < .05) but no significant changes were found in knee extension and steadiness SD. The training-induced changes in MVC were not correlated to steadiness CV that might indicate different mechanisms underlying these adaptations.     

Age and Cognitive Stress Influences Motor Skill Acquisition,Consolidation, and Dual-Task Effect in Humans

This study examined motor skill learning using a weight-bearing and cognitive-motor dual-task that incorporated unexpected perturbations and measurements of cognitive function. Forty young and 24 older adults performed a single-limb weight bearing task with novel speed, resistance, and cognitive dual task conditions to assess motor skill acquisition, retention and transfer. Subjects performed a cognitive dual task: summing letters in one color/orientation (simple) or two colors/orientations (complex). Increased cognitive load diminished the rate of skill acquisition, decreased transfer to new conditions, and increased error rate during an unexpected perturbation; however, young adults had a dual-task benefit from cognitive load. Executive function predicted 80% of the variability in dual-task performance. Although initial learning of a weight-bearing cognitive-motor dual-task was poor, longer term goals of improved dual-task effect and retention emerged.     

Moved to tears: Technical considerations and dilemmas encountered in working with a 13-year-old boy with acquired quadriplegia 1

This paper is about therapeutic work with David, a 13-year-old boy who, at the age of 5, was the victim of a hit-and-run road traffic accident resulting in quadriplegia. The circumstances leading to the accident and its sequelae reveal a particularly complex picture, which combines early emotional deprivation and trauma. Although cognitively intact and able to speak, David could not move. Yet he created movement in others through a desperate necessity, by communicating via the employment of extreme projective forces. The highly complex presentation of emotional, psychic and bodily damage in the child, and in particular, David's physical paralysis, has had a profound impact upon what I have come to think of as the ‘mindbody’ of the therapist. Winnicott has talked of the infant's ‘psyche/soma’. Here I want to extend the notion and consider the bodily impact of projections in particular and how these have a powerful emotional and physical resonance on the ‘mindbody’ of the therapist, especially in therapy with a young person whose body is damaged. In this paper, I consider technical challenges and dilemmas encountered in the work, including the complex interplay of transference/countertransference phenomena. This unusual presentation of a boy in extraordinary circumstances led to considerations of psychoanalytic method and interpretative activity, which may be viewed as being inspired by ‘emotional truthfulness’.2 2 Alex Dubinskey (Chair ACP conference 2004) commenting on aspects of this work used the term ‘emotional truthfulness’.

Dans cet article, l'auteur raconte son travail thérapeutique auprès de David, âgé de 13 ans, qui à l'âge de 5 ans fut victime d'un accident de la circulation avec délit de fuite, accident qui le laissa tétraplégique. Les circonstances qui aboutirent à l'accident et à ses séquelles forment un tableau particulièrement complexe mettant en jeu des carences affectives précoces et des traumatismes. Bien que ses capacités cognitives ne fussent nullement atteintes et qu'il fut capable de parler, David ne pouvait pas bouger. Par l'urgence désespérée de son discours, transmise grâce à des projections extrêmement puissantes, il réussissait à susciter du mouvement chez ses interlocuteurs. La présence conjointe et extrêmement complexe de dommages affectifs, psychiques et corporels chez cet enfant – et notamment sa paralysie physique – eut un impact profond sur ce que l'auteur en vient à appeler l'“ esprit-corps ” du psychothérapeute. D. W. Winnicott a parlé du “ psyché-soma ” du jeune enfant. Dans son texte, l'auteur élargit cette notion, notamment pour prendre en considération l'impact corporel des projections, ainsi que leur résonance émotionnelle et physique massive sur l'“ esprit-corps ” du thérapeute, surtout lorsque son patient est une personne jeune dont le corps est endommagé. L'auteur explore les défis et dilemmes techniques rencontrés au cours de son travail, y compris le jeu complexe de phénomènes transférentiels et contre-transférentiels. Ce traitement, inhabituel, avec un garçon dans des circonstances sortant de l'extraordinaire soulève des questions concernant la méthodologie psychanalytique et l'activité interprétative, questions qui peuvent être considérées comme étant inspirées par la “ véracité émotionnelle ”.

Dieser Artikel ist über die therapeutische Arbeit mit David, einem 13-jährigen Jungen, der im Alter von 5 Jahren das Opfer eines Unfalls mit Fahrerflucht war, der zu einer Querschnittslähmung führte. Die Umstände, die zu dem Unfall führten und seine Folgen legen ein besonders komplexes Bild dar, das frühe Vernachlässigung und Trauma kombiniert. Obwohl David kognitiv intakt war und sprechen konnte, konnte er sich nicht bewegen. Doch schaffte er Bewegung aus verzweifelter Notwendigkeit in anderen, indem er mit mithilfe der Benutzung von extremen projektiven Kräften kommunizierte. Die höchst komplexe Präsentation von emotionalem, psychischem und körpelichem Schaden in dem Kind und insbesondere Davids körperliche Lähmung, hatte eine tiefe Auswirkung auf das, was ich nun den ‘mindbody’ (Gemütskörper) des Therapeuten nenne. Winnicott sprach vom Psyche/Soma des Babies. Hier möchte ich diesen Begriff ausweiten und besonders die köperliche Auswirkung der Projektionen betrachten und wie diese eine starke emotionale und physische Resonanz auf den ‘mindbody’ des Therapeutens haben, insbesondere in der Therapie mit einer jungen Person, deren Körper beschädigt ist. In diesem Artikel betrachte ich technische Herausforderungen und Dilemmas, denen man in dieser Arbeit begegnet, einschliesslich der komplexen Wechselwirkung von Übertragungs/ Gegenübertragungsphänomenen. Diese ungewöhnliche Behandlung mit einem Jungen in aussergewöhnlichen Umständen führten zu Überlegungen zur psychoanalytischen Methode undzur Deutungsaktivität, die von ‘emotionaler Wahrheit’ inspiriert wird

Riassunto: In questo articolo si parla del lavoro terapeutico con David, un bambino di 13 anni che, all'età di 5 anni, fu vittima di un incidente stradale che portò alla quadriplegia. Le circostanze che portarono all'incidente e la sua sequela rivelano un quadro particolarmente complesso, nel quale emerge un misto di deprivazione emotiva precoce e trauma. Sebbene David fosse abile cognitivamente e potesse parlare, egli non poteva muoversi. Eppure il bambino generava movimento negli altri attraverso una disperata necessità, comunicando con l'uso di estreme forze proiettive. Il presentarsi di un danno nel bambino altamente complesso nella sua dimensione emotiva, psichica e corporea, ed in particolare, la paralisi fisica di David, hanno avuto un profondo impatto su ciò che ho iniziato a pensare come il ‘corpomente’ del terapeuta. Winnicott ha parlato dello ‘psiche/soma’ del neonato. L'autrice vuole nell'articolo estendere la nozione e considerare l'impatto corporeo delle proiezioni e come queste abbiano una risonanza emotiva e fisica molto forte sul ‘corpomente’ del terapeuta, soprattutto nella terapia con un ragazzo giovane il cui corpo è stato danneggiato. Nell'articolo considero le sfide tecniche e i dilemmi incontrati nel lavoro, compreso il gioco complesso dei fenomeni transferali e controtransferali. Il trattamento insolito con questo bambino in circostanze molto particolari ha portato a considerazioni riguardo al metodo psicoanalitico e all'attività interpretativa, che si possono considerare come ispirati da ‘verità emotiva'¹