Driving errors,estimated performance and individual characteristics under simulated and real road traffic conditions – A validation study

BackgroundThe suitability of driving simulators for the prediction of driving behaviour in road traffic has been able to be confirmed in respect of individual assessment parameters. However, there is a need for overarching approaches that take into account the interaction between various influencing factors in order to establish proof of validity. The aim of this study was to explore the validity of our driving simulator in respect of its ability to predict driving behaviour based on participants‘ observed driving errors and driver’s individual characteristics.Method41 healthy participants were assessed both in a Smart-Realo-Simulator and on the road. By means of linear modelling, the correlation between observed driving errors was investigated. In addition, the influence of self-reported and externally assessed driving behaviour as well as individual parameters (education and training; driving history) were analysed.ResultsBy including these factors, 58% of the variance could be explained. For observed driving errors, a relative validity was established. For self-reported and externally assessed driving behaviour, an absolute to relative validity emerged. The amount of time spent in education and training proved to have a significant influence on driving performance in the simulator, but not on the road.DiscussionIn general, our results confirmed the validity of our driving simulator with regard to observed and self-reported driving behaviour. It emerged that education and training as potential indicators of cognitive resources played a differential role regarding the study conditions. Since real road driving is considerably automated in experienced drivers, this result suggests that simulation-related behavioural regulation is challenged by additional cognitive demands as opposed to behavioural regulation extending to real road driving. However, the source of these additional cognitive demands remains currently elusive and may form the subject of future research.     

Dissociative Collusion: Reconnecting Clients with Histories of Trauma in Couple Therapy

This paper introduces the concept of “dissociative collusion” as a helpful theoretical and clinical tool for understanding and working with clients with histories of trauma in couple therapy. The paper describes ways to diagnose and treat dissociative collusion based on the integration of an object relations approach, a relational approach, and a narrative approach. Dissociative collusion, a unique version of the well‐documented “couple collusion,” describes relational unconscious dynamics where split‐off aspects of one or both partners are mutually dissociated in a complementary fashion that becomes a part of the shared unconscious and is reenacted in destructive ways. The dissociative collusion concept is especially relevant to couple therapists who work with clients with histories of trauma, who frequently use dissociation as a primary defense mechanism. We suggest that the challenge and goal for couple therapy with this population are to help them reconnect and better oscillate between dissociated self‐other configurations. A case of couple therapy of a wife who had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse and her husband who displayed frequent use of dissociative defenses is presented.     

Assessing the quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis in Kuwait: a cross sectional study

The main objective of this paper was to assess the level and the determinants of quality of life (QOL) amongst patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). A cross-sectional study was conducted among a convenience sample of 200 adult MS patients. Inclusion criteria were: MS diagnosis for at least one year, and aged 21+ years. However, exclusion criteria were: having other neurological diseases, serious cardiovascular, orthopedic or other disability precluding participation. Self-administered questionnaire employed MSQOL-54 with two outcomes: Physical Health Composite (PHC) and mental health composite (MHC). Satisfaction with Daily Occupation scale was adopted through face to face interviews. The median of PHC and MHC scores were 48.9/100, and 53.4/100 respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that unemployment was a determinant of poor PHC, while low monthly income was a predictor of poor MHC. Additionally, low endurance and sensory problems were associated with poor PHC, and MHC, while motor problems were allied with only poor PHC. Patient’s satisfaction level with performing activities of daily living was positively associated with PHC and MHC. Assessment of QOL is suggested to be comprised in medical settings.     

Social-emotional aspects of quality of life in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory auto-immune disease of the central nervous system. It leads to many impairments including physical, cognitive, psychological, and social challenges. Our study examined gender and cultural associations with quality of life (QoL), personal characteristics, and benefits from having MS among those with MS. The study was conducted in Austria and the United States. The sample included 128 participants, 64 in each country, of whom 78 were women and 50 were men aged between 20 and 57 years. We used standard statistical tests, including analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlations for the analysis of quantitative data. For the qualitative part of the survey we used semi-structured interviews, which we transcribed and coded to identify categories in the answers for qualitative analyses. Austrian participants with MS perceived a higher social-emotional QoL in comparison to American participants. American participants expressed a higher self-esteem in comparison to Austrian participants. Men reported a lower ability to express love than women. Independent of sex/gender and nationality, participants reported benefits through the disease, especially with regard to improved compassion, mindfulness, improved family relations and lifestyle gains. The qualitative interviews revealed additional gender differences for coping with the illness; and in experiences, expectations, and challenges related to MS. These insights can be used to develop targeted psychological and social support interventions aimed toward improving social-emotional QoL for persons with MS.     

The multiple realization book

In this review of Thomas W. Polger and Lawrence A. Shapiro’s The Multiple Realization Book I look at the positive account, Modest Identity Theory, that Polger and Shapiro advance. In §2 of this review, I outline P&S’s arguments against multiple realization and summarize the view they defend, Modest Identity Theory. In §3, I consider what consequences the adoption of Modest Identity Theory might have on the ontology of psychological or mental kinds. In particular, I highlight the ontological pluralism and anti-reductionism that Polger and Shapiro endorse. Modest Identity Theory tolerates multiple taxonomies of psychological kinds, which represents an important departure from earlier versions of Identity Theory. I conclude in §4 by arguing that the way Modest Identity Theory individuates psychological kinds very closely resembles the way that those kinds are individuated by functionalism. I argue that the causal properties individuative of psychological kinds can be used to group together distinct neuroanatomical characteristics. I illustrate this by describing research into the functional connectivity of the reading network. I conclude by emphasizing the value of using empirical evidence from neuroscience and cognitive science to inform the new pluralistic ontology of psychological and mental kinds with which Modest Identity Theory is compatible.     

Coping with Identity Conflict: Perceptions of Self as Flexible versus Fixed Moderate the Effect of Identity Conflict on Well-being

In four experimental studies, we explored the moderating role of perceptions of one’s self as flexible vs. fixed on the relationship between identity conflict, well-being, and self-esteem. Across different contexts, it was demonstrated that representations of self as stable vs. changeable moderated the effect of conflicting identities on well-being and self-esteem. Specifically, the activation of conflicting identities led to a decrease in well-being and self-esteem among those who construed their self as stable, but not among those who adopted flexible representations of self. The results suggest that the net effect of multiple identities depends not only on their compatibility and importance, but also on the way in which one’s self-concept is construed.     

A Community Psychology View of Environmental Organization Processes

Environmental organizations have a key role in addressing environmental degradation and promoting ecologically and socially sustainable societies. Psychosocial processes underpin their work, however, empirical studies of these processes remain underdeveloped. This paper presents the first stage of a community psychology study involving in-depth interviews with leaders in environmental organizations. Qualitative analysis revealed a framework of five types of psychosocial processes that assist environmental organizations to achieve a range of outcomes, namely: problem analysis; influencing decision-making; inter-organizational relationships; community participation and knowledge transfer. These psychosocial processes were used in substantially different ways depending on the organizations' orientation. Three key orientations towards outcomes were evident: on-ground conservation, developing innovation in specialist areas and transforming wider social institutions. The findings provide a model of the psychosocial processes involved in fostering sustainable futures and exemplify the contribution of community psychology to this critical global issue.     

Transverse diffusivity of cerebral parenchyma predicts visual tracking performance in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

This study investigated the relation between cerebral damage related to multiple sclerosis (MS) and cognitive decline as determined by two classical mental tracking tests. Cerebral damage in 15 relapsing–remitting MS patients was measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Fractional anisotropy, longitudinal and transverse diffusivity were defined in the cerebral parenchyma. Cognitive performance of the MS patients was assessed with the oral response format of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). A significant correlation was found between performance on the SDMT and the fractional anisotropy in the brain. This correlation was predominantly induced by transverse diffusivity. Transverse diffusivity refers to the diffusion across fibers rather than along the fibers and is believed to be a specific marker for axonal loss and demyelination associated with MS. No significant association between DTI-measures and PASAT performance was found and this negative finding was mainly attributed to psychometric qualities. These results indicate that diffusivity along the non-principal diffusion direction, a possible signature of MS-related white matter pathology, contributes to information processing speed as measured with the SDMT, a task that requires close visual tracking and a widely used clinical marker for cognitive decline in MS.     

Neuroscience and multiple realization: a reply to Bechtel and Mundale

One trend in recent work on topic of the multiple realization of psychological properties has been an emphasis on greater sensitivity to actual science and greater clarity regarding the metaphysics of realization and multiple realization. One contribution to this trend is Bechtel and Mundale’s examination of the implications of brain mapping for multiple realization. Where Bechtel and Mundale argue that studies of brain mapping undermine claims about the multiple realization, this paper challenges that argument.     

Multiple realization and methodological pluralism

Multiple realization was once taken to be a challenge to reductionist visions, especially within cognitive science, and a foundation of the “antireductionist consensus.” More recently, multiple realization has come to be challenged on naturalistic grounds, as well as on more “metaphysical” grounds. Within cognitive science, one focal issue concerns the role of neural plasticity for addressing these issues. If reorganization maintains the same cognitive functions, that supports claims for multiple realization. I take up the reorganization involved in language dysfunctions to deal with questions concerned with multiple realization and neural plasticity. Beginning with Broca’s case for localization and the nineteenth century discussion of “reorganization,” and returning to more recent evidence for neural plasticity, I argue that, in the end, there is substantial support for multiple realization in cognitive systems; I further argue that this is wholly consistent with a recognition of methodological pluralism in cognitive science.