Crossed dextral aphasia: A clinical radiological correlation

Three lifelong right-handed patients with clinically and radiologically well-defined right-hemispheric infarctions became aphasic. Their language functions in the rehabilitative, subacute phase of their illness were characterized by fluent, literal paraphasic output, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. Auditory comprehension was fair for contextual conversation, and the combination of language abilities enabled them to reach a “functional communication” stage. This study was unable to determine why these three patients had crossed dextral aphasias resulting from their otherwise typical clinical and radiological right-hemispheric infarcts. Of interest, the radiologically well-defined lesions, aside from being ipsilateral, fitted well the “posterior” fluency localization in two of the three patients, but was more extensive in the third.     

Attribution bias: On the inconclusiveness of the cognition-motivation debate

Social psychologists have given considerable theoretical and research attention to whether motivational variables bias the attributions people make for behavior. Some theorists maintain that motivational constructs must be invoked to explain certain attributional phenomena; other theorists maintain that information-processing variables can adequately explain these phenomena. The present article critically examines existing cognitive and motivational approaches to attribution and analyzes the assumptions underlying the cognition-motivation debate. We argue that cognitive and motivational theories are currently empirically indistinguishable. In particular, its is possible to construct information-processing explanations for virtually all evidence for motivated bias. We conclude by examining the implications of this indeterminacy of cognitive and motivational explanations. Future research in the area can most profitably be addressed to improving the specificity of cognitive and motivational theories rather than to resolving the between-theory confrontation.     

Why a common commemoration of the Reformation?

This article provides information about the fact that today any commemoration of the Reformation can only be celebrated in ecumenical communion. In contrast to earlier Reformation jubilees, the commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 is taking place, for the first time, in an ecumenical era. The year 2017 refers back to the year 1517, that is, to a time when the break with the Catholic Church had not yet happened. Martin Luther himself did not intend the division of the Church, nor did he visualise the founding of a new church, but the renewal of all Christendom. This failed in his time. Therefore one should regard the ecumenical search for the restoration of unity as the – indeed very belated – success of the Reformation. The commemoration of ??a reformation is an ecumenical opportunity, if it is committed to living the triad of gratitude for the reformation’s positive aims, of repentance for the sins of division and subsequent confessional wars, and of hope for a greater unity between Lutherans and Catholics.