Phoneme isolation ability is not simply a consequence of letter-sound knowledge

Two studies investigated whether knowledge of specific letter-sound correspondences is a necessary precursor of children's ability to isolate phonemes in speech. In both studies, Czech and English children reliably isolated phonemes for which they did not know the corresponding letter. These data refute the idea that phoneme manipulation ability can only develop as a consequence of orthographic (letter-sound correspondence) knowledge.     

A disturbance of interpreting,of symbolisation and of curiosity in the analyst‐analysand relationship: (The patient without insight)1

The author examines the function of the analyst who may distort the unconscious communication with the patient by means of the expression of his countertransference. He studies a disturbance in curiosity and in symbolisation in a patient with a narcissistic pathology. Both problems were related to this failure in interpreting. The curiosity of the patient, which initially seemed to be non‐existent, was found to be directed towards investigating the mind of the analyst, this being his sole purpose. The disturbance in symbolisation was manifested as a constant verbal acting out, which was expressed as verbal communication empty of meaning. A change in the interpretative attitude enabled a modifi cation in the objective of the curiosity, which became focused on investigating his own inner world, and the emptiness of the verbal communication was replaced by representations. This change in communication allowed the analyst to relate the facts of the psychoanalytic relationship both with the patient's phantasy and with the events in his history. An idealised identifi cation with destructive aspects of the mother towards the father was discovered. This idealisation had been sustained by the analyst by means of his errors in interpreting. The author explores disturbances in symbol formation and in the use of symbols, and he considers the different states of emptiness.     

THE RELIGION‐SCIENCE DISCUSSION AT FORTY YEARS: “REPORTS OF MYDEATH ARE PREMATURE”

Abstract. The startling success of the religion‐science discussion in recent years calls for reflection. Have old walls been broken down, old antagonisms overcome? Have science and religion finally been reconciled? Or is all the activity just so much sound and fury signifying nothing? Postmodern equations of scientific and religious beliefs disregard a number of enduring differences that help make sense of the continuing tensions. Yet the skepticism of authors such as John Caiazza is also ungrounded. I describe five major types of approaches that are being employed in the recent literature. These methods have led to a deeper understanding of the commonalities between science and religion and have produced new productive partnerships between them.     

Evidence for dissociable neural mechanisms underlying inference generation in familiar and less-familiar scenarios

In this study, we investigated whether the left and right hemispheres are differentially involved in causal inference generation. Participants read short inference-promoting texts that described either familiar or less-familiar scenarios. After each text, they performed a lexical decision on a letter string (which sometimes constituted an inference-related word) presented directly to the left or right hemisphere. Response-time results indicated that hemisphere of direct presentation interacted with type of inference scenario. When test stimuli were presented directly to the left hemisphere, lexical decisions were facilitated following familiar but not following less-familiar inference scenarios, whereas when test stimuli were presented directly to the right hemisphere, facilitation was observed in both familiar and less-familiar conditions. Thus, inferences may be generated in different ways depending on which of two dissociable neural subsystems underlies the activation of background information.     

Embodied simulation: From neurons to phenomenal experience

The same neural structures involved in the unconscious modeling of our acting body in space also contribute to our awareness of the lived body and of the objects that the world contains. Neuroscientific research also shows that there are neural mechanisms mediating between the multi-level personal experience we entertain of our lived body, and the implicit certainties we simultaneously hold about others. Such personal and body-related experiential knowledge enables us to understand the actions performed by others, and to directly decode the emotions and sensations they experience. A common functional mechanism is at the basis of both body awareness and basic forms of social understanding: embodied simulation. It will be shown that the present proposal is consistent with some of the perspectives offered by phenomenology.     

Applying evidence to support ethical decisions: Is the placebo really powerless?

Using placebos in day-to-day practice is an ethical problem. This paper summarises the available epidemiological evidence to support this difficult decision. Based on these data we propose to differentiate between placebo and “knowledge framing”. While the use of placebo should be confined to experimental settings in clinical trials, knowledge framing — which is only conceptually different from placebo — is a desired, expected and necessary component of any doctor-patient encounter. Examples from daily practice demonstrate both, the need to investigate the effects of knowledge framing and its impact on ethical, medical, economical and legal decisions. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an international conference, “Placebo: Its Action and Place in Health Research Today,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 12–13 April, 2003.     

Early predictors of letter knowledge

This study examined the influence of phonological memory and rapid naming on the development of letter knowledge. Participants were 77 Dutch children, who were followed from the start of their first kindergarten year (mean age 4 years 6.8 months) to the end of their second kindergarten year. Phonological memory was assessed by a nonword repetition test and a sentence repetition test. Rapid naming involved object naming. The study revealed found a substantial effect of phonological memory on the acquisition of letter knowledge that was particularly related to the ability to repeat nonwords. Vocabulary knowledge did not have an independent effect on letter learning after phonological memory was controlled. The study also showed a small effect of rapid naming on the acquisition of letter knowledge that was independent of the effect of phonological memory. Finally, the study also provided further evidence for a specific relation between phonological memory and vocabulary acquisition.     

The influence of intentional and incidental learning on acquiring spatial knowledge during navigation

In order to study the influence of intentional and incidental learning conditions on route learning, young adults walked a route through a university building. Half of the participants focused their attention on the route (intentional learning condition), while the other half did not (incidental learning condition). Five tests of spatial knowledge were employed: a route-length-estimation, landmark recognition, landmark ordering, map-drawing and navigation task. The intentional group performed better than the incidental group on the map-drawing and navigation task. No difference between the intentional and incidental group was found on the landmark-recognition and landmark-ordering task. Moreover, the intentional group overestimated the walking distance, while the incidental group underestimated it. These results suggest that route knowledge (landmark recognition and landmark ordering) requires less effortful processing than survey knowledge (developing a map-like representation and actual navigation).