The weariness of the hero: depression and the self in a civilization in transition

According to the World Health Organization, depression is currently the leading cause of disability, which is of great concern worldwide; however there is much dispute about depression and its causes. This article raises the hypothesis that depression could be related to an increase or inflation of ego‐consciousness, which, in turn, is inseparable from the development of modernity. The ‘hero’, symbol of this historical process of self‐consciousness and autonomy, stands now wearied and disoriented. The paper outlines how, in this cultural scene, certain ideas from Carl Jung's and James Hillman's depth psychologies may be useful in addressing the issue: the rediscovery of figures of the other through the analysis of the unconscious (Jung) and associating with others in groups imbued with communal sense (Hillman) could help the depressed individual to mitigate his or her inflated ego‐consciousness. These are two complementary ways of experiencing the conglomerate nature of the self, thus promoting the process of individuation.     

Meaning and Movement: Exploring the Deep Connections to Education

Many in education suggest that to have studentsadopt healthy and active lifestyles, then theymust be offered meaning rich physical activityexperiences. This paper adds to thisconversation in two ways. First, this paperadds depth and richness to traditionalconceptualizations of the meaning in movement.In doing so, we interrogate the physical,cognitive and affective meaning that studentsmay derive from participation in movement.Second, this paper examines the role ofphysical activity in theme-based, integratedcurriculum. We highlight how physical activitycan be incorporated into theme-based units insubstantial and non-trivial ways.     

The development of relational competence among young high-risk fathers across the transition to parenthood

This study examined relationship factors associated with paternal functioning among young, high-risk fathers, with an emphasis on the role of a young mother's relational competence on her partner's paternal functioning. Participants included 60 young fathers and their coparenting partners, who were identified before childbirth and followed over 2 years. Fathers were identified as being at high risk for paternal failure based on a history of school dropout, psychopathology, and/or serial fatherhood. It was hypothesized that young men who were more relationally competent before childbirth would function more adequately as fathers, despite their high-risk status. Based on principles of family systems theory, it was also predicted that young men with more relationally competent partners would become more relationally competent, and therefore learn to function more positively as fathers. Relational competence was assessed using interview data collected before and 2 years post child birth, and coded with the Relational Competence Index. Paternal functioning was based on a composite score consisting of self-reported and observed parenting. Path analysis indicated that (1) high-risk fathers with relationally competent partners had higher relational competence scores over time, and (2) higher relational competence scores were associated with more positive paternal functioning scores.     

Spatial associations in relational reasoning: Evidence for a SNARC-like effect

Relational reasoning (A > B, B > C, therefore A > C) shares a number of similarities with numerical cognition, including a common behavioural signature, the symbolic distance effect. Just as reaction times for evaluating relational conclusions decrease as the distance between two ordered objects increases, people need less time to compare two numbers when they are distant (e.g., 2 and 8) than when they are close (e.g., 3 and 4). Given that some remain doubtful about such analogical representations in relational reasoning, we determine whether numerical cognition and relational reasoning have other overlapping behavioural effects. Here, using relational reasoning problems that require the alignment of six items, we provide evidence showing that the subjects' linear mental representation affects motor performance when evaluating conclusions. Items accessible from the left part of a linear representation are evaluated faster when the response is made by the left, rather than the right, hand and the reverse is observed for items accessible from the right part of the linear representation. This effect, observed with the prepositions to the left of and to the right of as well as with above and below, is analogous to the SNARC (Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect, which is characterized by an interaction between magnitude of numbers and side of response.     

Relational property between head and eye regions is the primary determinant of the efficiency in search for a deviant gaze

The human visual system is extremely sensitive to the directions of the gazes of others. However, the mechanism underlying gaze direction perception has yet to be clarified. The primary aim of the present study is to investigate whether the relational property between the local eye region and other facial regions serves as the primary visual system cue in detecting a direct gaze. Our results showed that search efficiency was determined primarily by the gaze direction indicated by the relational property regardless of the direction indicated by the local feature information of the eye region; this was true even when the gaze directions indicated by these two types of information were conflicting. These results bolster the hypothesis that the human visual system primarily accesses socially meaningful information in searching for a deviant gaze.     

Interpersonal self‐support and attentional bias on negative and positive interpersonal information

Interpersonal self‐support is an indigenous Chinese personality concept. It represents the idealized notion of the kind of personality traits that help individuals deal with interpersonal problems and develop and maintain the harmonic and appropriate social relationships required in China's collectivistic and interdependent culture. It also was assumed to be a protective personality factor with regard to mental health and was found to be negatively related to psychosomatic symptoms. In the current study, cognitive processing of interpersonal information is assumed to be an underlying mechanism that connects interpersonal self‐support with interpersonal relationships and mental health. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments to investigate whether attentional bias on positive and negative interpersonal information was related to high and low interpersonal self‐support. A spatial cueing task and the emotional Stroop task were administered to two samples of high and low interpersonal self‐support Chinese undergraduate students to measure attentional bias. The results from both experiments suggested that high interpersonal self‐support students had an attentional bias toward positive interpersonal information, while low interpersonal self‐support students preferentially attended to negative interpersonal information. Study 1 indicated that attentional bias toward positive interpersonal information was easily engaged in the high interpersonal self‐support group, while attentional bias toward negative interpersonal information was both easy to engage and difficult to disengage in the low interpersonal self‐support students. These results support our hypotheses that high interpersonal self‐support people engage in positive processing of interpersonal information, whereas low interpersonal self‐support people engage in negative processing of interpersonal information. The differential balance between positive and negative processing on interpersonal information may explain why interpersonal self‐support predicts both mental health and interpersonal relationships. In addition, the relational schema may explain why interpersonal self‐support is associated with an attentional bias toward interpersonal information.     

The effects of relational structure on analogical learning

Relational structure is important for various cognitive tasks, such as analogical transfer, but its role in learning of new relational concepts is poorly understood. This article reports two experiments testing people’s ability to learn new relational categories as a function of their relational structure. In Experiment 1, each stimulus consisted of 4 objects varying on 2 dimensions. Each category was defined by two binary relations between pairs of objects. The manner in which the relations were linked (i.e., by operating on shared objects) varied between subjects, producing 3 logically different conditions. In Experiment 2, each stimulus consisted of 4 objects varying on 3 dimensions. Categories were defined by three binary relations, leading to six logically different conditions. Various learning models were compared to the behavioral data, based on the theory of schema refinement. The results highlight several shortcomings of schema refinement as a model of relational learning: (1) it can make unreasonable demands on working memory, (2) it does not allow schemas to grow in complexity, and (3) it incorrectly predicts learning is insensitive to relational structure. We propose schema elaboration as an additional mechanism that provides a more complete account, and we relate this mechanism to previous proposals regarding interactions between analogy and representation construction. The current findings may advance understanding of the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning and representing relational concepts.     

Both differences in encoding processes and monitoring at retrieval reduce false alarms when distinctive information is studied

ABSTRACT

Recent research has provided evidence for memory modifications when a post-reactivation treatment (e.g., drugs, new learning) interferes with the memory re-stabilisation (reconsolidation) process. This finding contradicts the long-standing consolidation theory and has high practical and theoretical implications. With an object-learning paradigm, it was shown that episodic memory is highly susceptible to interfering material presented after its reactivation [Hupbach, A., Gomez, R., Hardt, O., &; Nadel, L. (2007). Reconsolidation of episodic memories: A subtle reminder triggers integration of new information. Learning &; Memory, 14, 47–53. doi:10.1101/lm.365707]. The reactivation of a learned list (List 1) before a second learned list (List 2) led to intrusion errors from List 2 when trying to recall List 1, but not vice-versa. Their work has been widely cited and their findings have been explained according to reconsolidation theory. For the first time, we systematically explored the role of retrieval context as an alternative explanation for Hupbach’s results. Our results showed that the intrusion effect occurs independently of the retrieval context (Experiment 1). Additionally, even when the intrusion rate probability is increased (i.e., List 1 memory test is performed in the List 2 learning context), the groups that did not reactivate the original list did not commit intrusion errors (Experiment 2). In sum, we found that the intrusion effect critically depends on the presence of reactivation, discarding alternative interpretations of the results.