Cerebral hemispheres and selective attention

The present paper is intended to discuss critically the integration model of the functional interhemispheric relation that has become dominant in neuropsychology with the development, in the last two decades, of split-brain studies.While the split-brain research has undoubtedly produced new experimental methodologies, the current theorizing in this area has been contrastingly conservative. The present paper examines some of its basic assumptions, in particular that the corpus callosum is an association pathway devoted to interhemispheric transmission of information, and that the disconnected cerebral hemispheres function in a parallel way. It is shown that these assumptions have only low consistency both with split-brain behavior and with the normal organization of the fore-brain connectivity.In the early seventies, theoretical novelty has emerged from another research field with Kinsbourne's interpretation of laterality effects in normal man. His concept of asymmetrical hemispheric arousal is shown to be supported, with some reservations, by evidence in this field. But this dynamical concept has a more general value and there are signs that current ideas about the functional relation between the cerebral hemispheres are presently deeply transformed.     

Memory for numbers in monolinguals and bilinguals

Forty-six subjects were assigned to two groups according to a reaction time technique: one monolingual group of 14 subjects with German as the dominant language and one group of 32 German-Swedish bilingual subjects balanced in skills. The subjects were given short-term memory tasks on numbers presented aurally and a visually presented prose text involving both short-term and long-term memory processes. The results provide evidence that two language systems actively used in daily communication affect both speed and memory span for digits: when compared with monolingual subjects, balanced bilinguals read more slowly and showed a higher error rate in the recall of two-digit numbers. The results support a hypothesis of interdependent bilingual storage.     

Predictive reaching for moving objects by human infants

To what degree do infants use a predictive strategy when reaching for moving objects? This question was studied longitudinally in five infants from 18 to 36 weeks of age. The aiming of 356 reaches were analyzed by a technique that took into consideration the three-dimensional properties of the reaches. Each reach was divided into ballistic steps and the aiming of each step was calculated and compared with an optimal value. It was found that the infants studied had an ability to reach for fast moving objects in a predictive way. Further, the results show that the predictive ability is remarkably good in the lowest age groups which suggests that it is, at least partly, prewired. What develops seems mainly to be the mobility aspects of reaching which makes for more economical and flexible reaching. Older infants reach successfully for the fast moving object also with a nonpredictive chasing strategy.     

Cognitive strategies in a complex judgment task: Analyses of concurrent verbal reports and judgments of cumulated risk over different exposure times

Subjects judged the cumulated risk of dying during a year for a set of persons or cases each characterized by the risks during three different periods of risk exposure during the year (e.g., 18 weeks with 2.3 deaths per thousand persons per year of exposure, 28 weeks with 2.5 deaths and 6 weeks with 16.0 deaths per thousand per year). Three main strategies were used for solving the problems: (1) addition of the risk levels, (2) computing the mean of the risk levels, and (3) the most frequently used anchoring and adjustment strategy most closely approximating the normatively correct risk over the year. The first two strategies do not use all relevant information because they neglect the importance of different exposure times. The anchoring and adjustment strategy used all information and was executed in a first stage in which an initial anchor or reference risk was selected followed by a second stage in which this anchor was adjusted according to the remaining information. The process for finding the first anchor was quite flexible, using different principles (e.g., extreme values or similarity) depending on the pattern of cues characterizing each case. Biases in relation to normative theory originated from subjects misunderstanding or simplifying the problem (Strategies (1) and (2)) or the characteristics of the anchoring and adjustment process which resulted in relative overestimation of short-time, high-risk cases. A few subjects, however, all of whom used sequential anchoring and adjustment, succeeded in giving quite accurate estimates.     

Between Hospitality and Hostility

Migration has been a global phenomenon since the beginning of humankind. But despite its ordinariness, migration is a complex issue. The arrival of refugees in another country might have significant social, economic, political, cultural, and religious repercussions for both the migrants and the host societies. In 2015, many refugees, mainly from the Middle East and the North African region, fled to Europe. Migration has become a subject of research in social sciences and, recently, in social ethics and theology. An ethical dilemma arises around the refugee crisis and the relationships between the host countries and guest communities: What is the relevance of the ethics of hospitality in a climate of political radicalization and hostility toward the “other”? This paper studies social ethical perspectives of hospitality and hostility toward refugees in the context of Sweden.     

Changes in 10‐year‐old children's body esteem: A time‐lag study between 2000 and 2010

This time‐lag study examined if there has been any changes in body esteem over a 10‐year period for 10‐year old children in Gothenburg, Sweden. Two cohorts of children, one in year 2000 and one in 2010, answered the same questionnaire about body esteem. A total of 960 children, 515 girls and 445 boys, participated in the first wave in 2000 and a total of 342 children, 171 girls and 171 boys participated in the second wave in 2010. The results showed a general stability in levels of body esteem for both girls and boys over the past 10 years. The gender differences, with boys being more satisfied with their appearance and weight compared to girls also seems to be stable over the years. In addition, the results also showed a somewhat positive development among the overweight girls with enhanced body esteem for the overweight girls compared to the non‐overweight girls during the ten years studied. Unfortunately, the same pattern was not found for overweight boys. For them the discrepancy in body esteem compared to non‐overweight boys, with the overweight boys being more dissatisfied, found in 2000 remained in 2010.     

Fleeing from one place,searching for another

The history of psychoanalysis also tells the story of how individuals were uprooted. Oppression and persecution forced Jewish psychoanalysts into exile during the interwar period and the Second World War. An account of the history of psychoanalysis in a particular country is also bound to mirror international conditions. This article tells the life story of a psychoanalyst of Jewish descent. However, it also tells another story, namely the painful history of psychoanalysis. The life of the Jewish psychoanalyst, Lajos Székely (1904-1995), who found his way to Sweden in May 1944, summarises and distils the destiny of other Jewish psychoanalysts. The article describes the life of a psychoanalyst, but is at the same time about what he represents in a more general sense. It is about the many Jewish psychoanalysts who were forced to flee and who, although the flight was finally over, still uprooted, were compelled to seek a place and a purpose in a new social environment.     

Cultural,contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study

Tulviste, T., Mizera, L., De Geer, B. & Tryggvason, M.‐T. (2010). Cultural, contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The study focused on cultural, contextual, and gender differences in children’s peer talk. Same‐sex dyads of Estonian (n = 38), Finnish (n = 38), and Swedish (n = 34) preschool age children were videotaped during unstructured and structured play settings. We found only one gender difference in children’s talkativeness and in the use of regulatory speech: during free play, Swedish boys used more imperatives per directives than Swedish girls. At the same time there were significant cultural and contextual differences. Estonian children were most directive and Swedish children were least directive. Finnish children were less directive than Estonian children but more directive than Swedish children. It was concluded that cultural and contextual factors strongly influence the likelihood, extent, and nature of gender differences in peer talk.     

Anxiety,Compassion and Pride. How Emotions Elicited by the Government’s Handling of Covid-19 Influences Health-Promoting Behavior

This article explores how emotions connected to the Government’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Sweden relates to behaviors to stop the spread of the virus, and which emotions functions as mediators in this relationship. The Swedish approach to handling the outbreak greatly differed from how many other Western European countries handled the situation and thus makes an important case to study. In a large representative survey (N = 2449), we found that satisfaction with how the Government handled the situation was related to more positive and less negative emotions. Anxiety, compassion and pride mediated the effect of satisfaction on compliance with the national recommendations such that anxiety and compassion increased compliance, while pride decreased it. Importantly though, satisfaction increased compassion and pride, but only compassion led to more compliant behaviors. In fact, satisfaction was indirectly related to less compliant behaviors via anxiety and pride. Shame mediated the effect on the tendency to wear face masks, a behavior that was explicitly not endorsed by the Swedish Public Health Agency. We speculate if the face mask, which was intensely debated, became a politicized symbol of dissatisfaction with the Swedish approach. In sum, it seems that individuals who were dissatisfied with how the government handled the Covid-19 outbreak were in fact engaging more in health-promotional behaviors to stop the spread of the virus.     

Psychosocial and Behavioural Assessment of Chronic Pain: Recommendations for Clinicians and Researchers

Abstract

A variety of methods have been developed for the assessment of chronic benign pain. In research or in clinical practise, choosing an adequate measurement technique can be a laborious task. This article has two main purposes: to report on some basic features to consider when selecting assessment instruments, and to present a review of some psychosocial and behavioural measurement methods for the assessment of chronic benign pain. The selected methods have, with one exception, been evaluated on Swedish chronic pain populations and are used in international pain research. In conclusion, we recommend the use of psychometrically sound instruments, and that the purposes for use of a measure have to be thoroughly considered in advance. We also emphasize that in clinical practise, each separate measure must be interpreted in a wider context, where clinical findings and judgements are considered as a whole. In addition, none of the single reviewed assessment techniques can replace the communication between the patient and the clinician.