The role of pre‐oedipal and oedipal factors in psychic life1

The Oedipus complex, a basic concept in Freudian theory, is an essential factor in the constitution of the human subject. It plays a key role in the structuring of the personality and in the orientation of desire. It is the oedipal triangular structure that precedes the pre‐oedipal situation (in a logical, not chronological, order), and not vice versa. The oedipal structure exists before the infant's biological birth. It is present in the parents' desires and identifi cations, which inexorably fall upon each subject. That is why the author believes that it is necessary to leave behind a solipsistic reading of the nuclear complex of neuroses‐a reading that is based solely on Oedipus's drive nucleus‐and take a joint and comprehensive view of Laius's and Jocasta's histories and traumatic experiences, which were invested in their son. Among these three vertices, a dynamic set of forces emerges whereby a basic, original unconscious fi eld phantasy is created that bears a unique narrative and an invisible and hermetic web made of passions and beliefs, scandals and secrets. This phantasy gives shape to an unrepeatable oedipal structure in each subject, a structure that articulates with the effects of the narcissistic and fraternal dynamic and may determine the subject's fate. This paper develops the following issues: 1) Oedipus, victimizer or victim? 2) the generational confrontation as dynamic fi eld; and 3) neuroses with a preponderance of dualistic relationships.     

材料呈现方式对儿童不同领域问题发现的影响

在概述国内外有关问题发现研究的四种研究模式的基础上,从问题发现的影响因素方面对以往研究进行扩展,探讨了在不同领域里不同的材料呈现方式对儿童问题发现的影响。对262名小学三年级和五年级儿童的研究表明:儿童的问题发现有显著的领域差异,言语呈现可能比实物呈现更能促进儿童发现高质量问题,五年级儿童在问题质量的新颖性方面好于三年级儿童。     

Right hemisphere specialization for color detection

Three experiments were carried out to investigate hemispheric asymmetry in color processing among normal participants. In Experiment 1, it was shown that the reaction times (RTs) of the dominant and non-dominant hands assessed using a visual target presented at the central visual field, were not significantly different. In Experiment 2, RTs of ipsilateral hands to lateralized chromatic stimuli revealed that the processing time was 17 ms shorter in the right hemisphere (RH) than that in the left hemisphere among the right-handed participants, whereas no significant difference was found among the left-handed participants. On the other hand, RTs to lateralized achromatic stimuli showed no such asymmetry among both the right- and left-handed participants (Experiment 3). These findings strongly suggest RH superiority for detection of color among right-handed individuals.     

Functional analytic psychotherapy and the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder

This paper argues that Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) can contribute to the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). FAP is a behavior analytically informed approach to talk-therapy, developed by Kohlenberg and Tsai. It uses natural occurrences of clinically relevant behavior in the client-therapist relationship to promote therapeutic change. A selection of vignettes of client-therapist dialogues involving two clients with OCD is discussed. The examples show how natural interactions between therapist and client can be used to bring therapeutic technique closer to the natural occurrences of obsessive-compulsive behavior. Furthermore, the fragments illustrate that FAP can encompass exposure and response prevention. Therefore, the in vivo learning during the session as promoted in FAP can be an asset in the treatment of clients with OCD, and it deserves attention in future treatment research.     

Infant observation: A range of questions and challenges for contemporary psychoanalysis1

The author attempts to integrate several perspectives within the field of infant observation that reflect the analyst's personal experience as a clinician, as a professor at the analytic institute and as a researcher in the field of psychoanalysis. Can infant observation contribute to analytic technique, theory and training? If so, what would be the nature of such contribution? To answer these questions, the author reviews the literature on infant observation from Freud to the present, highlighting Latin American contributions to this subject. She makes reference to the role of technological innovations, which have allowed videotaping, repeated observations, temporal segmentation and computerized programs, thus giving rise to microanalytic research. This discussion prompts the question about the contributions made by systematic research to clinical practice. To tackle this question, the author presents both a clinical vignette taken from her personal experience, and the current debate on this subject as it appears in the work of Daniel Stern and André Green. Finally, she presents some conclusions that are part of an ongoing debate in the psychoanalytic field.     

Heuristic and analytic processes in mental models for conditionals: An integrative developmental theory

This article presents a developmental dual-process theory of the understanding of conditionals that integrates Evans’ heuristic–analytic theory within the revised mental model theory of conditional proposed by Barrouillet, Gauffroy, and Lecas (2008). According to this theory, the interpretation of a conditional sentence is driven by unconscious and implicit heuristic processes that provide individuals with an initial representation that captures its meaning by representing the cases that make it true. This initial model can be enriched with additional models (a process named fleshing out within the mental model theory) through the intervention of conscious and demanding analytic processes. Being optional, these processes construct representations of cases that are only compatible with the conditional, leaving its truth-value indeterminate when they occur. Because heuristic processes are relatively immune to developmental changes, while analytic processes strongly develop with age, the initial model remains stable through development whereas the number of additional models that can be constructed increases steadily. Thus, the dual-process mental model theory predicts in which cases conditionals will be deemed true, indeterminate, or false and how these cases evolve with age. These predictions were verified in children, adolescents and adults who were asked to evaluate the truth value and the probability of several types of conditionals. The results reveal a variety of developmental trajectories in the way different conditionals are interpreted, which can all be accounted for by our revised mental model theory.     

Semantic asymmetries are modulated by phonological asymmetries: Evidence from the disambiguation of homophonic versus heterophonic homographs

The present study investigated cerebral asymmetries in accessing multiple meanings of two types of homographs: homophonic homographs (e.g., bank) and heterophonic homographs (e.g., tear). Participants read homographs preceded by either a biasing or a non-biasing sentential context and performed a lexical decision on lateralized targets presented 150 ms after onset of the sentence-final ambiguous prime. Targets were either related to the dominant or the subordinate meaning of the preceding homograph or were unrelated to it. In the case of homophonic homographs – our results converge with previous findings: both activation and selection processes are faster in the LH than in the RH. Importantly, however, in the case of heterophonic homographs – opposite asymmetries were found. These results suggest that semantic asymmetries are modulated by phonology. They are discussed in the context of a model of functional architecture of reading in the two hemispheres in which orthography, phonology and semantics are fully interconnected in the LH, whereas in the RH, orthography and phonology are not directly connected, such that phonological processes are mediated by semantics.     

A multiple-criteria decision-making approach for the evaluation of retail location

This study proposes an ANP-based evaluation of retail locations. Authors acted as decision analysts and interacted with professionals in Turkish apparel retailing sector for acquiring their knowledge and expertise. As a result, evaluation criteria of the study were identified. These criteria are clustered into five groups: store, other retailers, shopping centre/business district, accessibility, and environmental. The relationship among criteria were assessed and a network was formed. ANP approach was then utilized in order to evaluate possible retail locations for the apparel stores. Besides global preferences of these alternatives, relative importance of the criteria was also revealed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of landmark properties in shaping exploration and navigation

This study was aimed at uncovering physical and geometric properties that make a particular landmark a target of exploration and navigation. Rats were tested in a square open-field arena with additional portable corners featuring the same properties as the arena corners. It was found that the routes of progression converged upon the added corners, whether located at the arena wall or the arena center. Route convergence upon the added corners involved numerous visits to these corners. However, time spent at the added corners was relatively short compared with the arena corners, including that from which rats were introduced into the arena. There was no differential effect of testing rats in light or dark, or with a low versus a high portable corner. It is suggested that the added corners were distinct against the background of the arena enclosure, whereas the four arena corners and walls were encoded by the rats as one geometric module. This distinctness, together with the greater accessibility of the added corners, made them salient landmarks and a target of exploration. Thus, the impact of a landmark extended beyond its specific self-geometry to include accessibility and distinctness, which are contextual properties. In addition to the contextual impact on locomotor behavior there was also a temporal effect, with security initially dominating the rats’ behavior but then declining along with an increased attraction to salient landmarks. These spatiotemporal patterns characterized behavior in both lit and dark arenas, indicating that distal cues were secondary to local proximal cues in shaping routes.     

Analytic Tableau Systems and Interpolation for the Modal Logics KB, KDB, K5, KD5

We give complete sequent-like tableau systems for the modal logics KB, KDB, K5, and KD5. Analytic cut rules are used to obtain the completeness. Our systems have the analytic superformula property and can thus give a decision procedure. Using the systems, we prove the Craig interpolation lemma for the mentioned logics.