Bimanual and Unimanual Convergent Goal-Directed Movement Times

Three experiments are reported, investigating the effects of using 1 or 2 hands when making convergent low index of difficulty (ID) and visually controlled movements (2 hands meeting together). The experiments involved movements in four different cases—a probe held in the right hand and moved to a target held in the stationary left hand, vice versa of this arrangement, both hands moving with the probe in the right hand and target in the left hand, and vice-versa of this arrangement. Experiments were the standard Fitts’ paradigm, moving a pin into a hole and a low-ID task. In Fitts’ task, 2-hand movements were faster than 1 hand only at higher IDs; this was also the case in the pin-to-hole transfer task and the movement times were lower when the pin was held in the preferred hand. Movements made with low ID showed a small effect of 1- or 2-handed movements, with the effective amplitude of the movement being reduced by about 20% when 2 hands were used.     

Control of Integrated Task Sequences Shapes Components of Reaching

Reaching toward an object usually consists of a sequence of elemental actions. Using a reaching task sequence, the authors investigated how task elements of that sequence affected feedforward and feedback components of the reaching phase of the movement. Nine right-handed adults performed, with their dominant and nondominant hands, 4 tasks of different complexities: a simple reaching task; a reach-to-grasp task; a reach-to-grasp and lift object task; and a reach-to-grasp, lift, and place object task. Results showed that in the reach-to-grasp and lift object task more time was allocated to the feedforward component of the reach phase, while latency between the task elements decreased. We also found between-hand differences, supporting previous findings of increased efficiency of processing planning-related information in the preferred hand. The presence of task-related modifications supports the concept of contextual effects when planning a movement.     

Fitts’ Theorem in Oculomotor Control: Dissociable Movement Times for Amplitude and Width Manipulations

The authors examined whether movement times (MT) for discrete saccades are constant given equivalent index of difficulty (ID) values (i.e., unitary nature of Fitts’ theorem). To that end, we contrasted ID/MT relations for saccades equated for ID but differing with respect to their target amplitudes and widths. Results showed that MT increased with increasing ID within amplitude and width conditions; however, the ID/MT slope was markedly steeper in the former condition. Thus, the amplitude condition imposed greater information processing demands than the width condition—a result indicating that the constituent elements of Fitts’ theorem are dissociable (i.e., nonunitary). Further, examination of saccade kinematics demonstrated that the optimal MT for a given target amplitude was largely independent of target width.     

Digit ratios,but not facial width-to-height ratios,are associated with the priority placed on attending to faces versus bodies

Testosterone has been linked to a sexual preference for bodies rather than faces. Low digit ratio (2D:4D) and high facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) are associated with high prenatal testosterone. We tested whether low 2D:4D and high facial WHR were correlated with a preference for bodies over faces. Our sample consisted of 109 college students (64 males). A two-way analysis of variance demonstrated a significant main effect of digit ratio on the priority placed on paying attention to faces or bodies such that low 2D:4D was linked to a preference for bodies, but the effect of sex was not significant. There were no significant interaction effects. Another two-way analysis of variance revealed no significant effects for facial WHR and attentional priority but significant associations between sex and attentional priority. There were no significant interaction effects. Our findings indicate that individuals with low digit ratios tended to pay more attention to bodies than to faces compared with individuals with higher digit ratios, independently of sex. We also found that males tended to pay more attention to bodies than to faces compared with females, independently of facial WHR.     

Psychotherapy with an adolescent boy who refused medical treatment

In this paper we describe psychotherapeutic work carried out in a paediatric hospital to illustrate the important contribution of a psychoanalytically-oriented approach in a hospital context. The work concerns an adolescent boy who had undergone several surgical operations with the result that some of his natural orifices were obstructed and artificial ones had to be created. He was referred to us because he refused pharmacological and rehabilitative treatment necessary prior to further surgery and his eventual recovery. The boy's experience of loss of control of his life and the more primitive anxieties of not feeling safely contained in his physical and psychic skin emerged and were worked through in the psychotherapeutic relationship. The parallel work with medical staff reduced the risk of splitting and acting out by the patient and professionals. The approach adopted enabled this boy to resume his medical treatment and his developmental process.     

Personality Traits and Body Weight Measures: Concurrent and Across‐Time Associations

We tested the possibility that the five‐factor model of personality is associated with three measures of body weight and with changes in their levels over time and that these associations are gender specific. The study was conducted at two points of time, Time 1 (2664 participants) and Time 2 (1492 participants), over approximately 4 years, controlling for gender, age, education, and having a chronic disease. Body weight was assessed by body mass index, waist circumference, waist‐to‐hip ratio, and the five‐factor model by Saucier's Mini‐Markers. Cross‐sectional regression results indicated that conscientiousness was negatively associated with the three body weight measures, whereas neuroticism and extraversion were positively associated with the three body weight measures. The longitudinal regression results indicate that extraversion was associated with an increase in two of the body weight measures. Neuroticism was associated with increase in all three body weight measures and more strongly for women than for men. Openness was associated with a decrease in all three body weight measures for women, but this association was not significant for men. These findings help identify personality traits that lead to risk of weight gain and point to the modifying role of gender. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buddhist prajÑĀ and Greek sophia

The present review examines five books, one by a non-Baha'i, three by a Baha'i academic, and one by a Baha'i non-academic. The non-Baha'i volume, which is very short, is by a Danish sociologist of religion, Margit Warburg. It forms a solid explanatory text informed by a lengthy experience of the Baha'is both in Denmark and abroad. This review discusses, inter alia, three volumes by a Baha'i sociologist, Peter Smith. While the three titles are very different books, taken together they form an intelligent presentation of the religion from the perspective of a thoughtful insider. Finally, the article looks at a completely different sort of book, an intelligent portrayal of Baha'ism from its spiritual and moral perspectives by Moojan Momen. This last brings readers closest to typical fare for believers and new converts.     

A pre-suicide state in an adolescent female 1

Abstract

During a pre-suicide state, the enactment of a suicide fantasy is the motive force. The nature and function of a suicide fantasy is explored in this paper in the context of the impact of puberty on the female body image and against the background of the pre-Oedipal and Oedipal father's relationship with his daughter. Case material from the analysis of an adolescent girl is presented to illustrate the crucial role of the father, in the transference, prior to a suicide attempt.

La force motrice qui sous-tend l'état pré-suicidaire est la mise en acte d'un fantasme suicidaire. Cet article explore la nature et la fonction du fantasme suicidaire dans le contexte de l'impact, chez une adolescente, de la puberté sur son image du corps avec, en toile de fond, la relation que le père, pré?dipien et ?dipien, entretient avec sa fille. Un matériel clinique extrait de l'analyse d'une adolescente est présentée afin d'illustrer le rôle crucial du père au sein du transfert avant la tentative de suicide.

Mots-clés: État pré-suicidaire, fantasme suicidaire, puberté et image du corps chez la fille, père pré?dipien et ?dipien, transfert, contre-transfert

Riassunto: Durante lo stato pre-suicidio, il motivo forza è la messa in atto di una fantasia di suicidio. Nell'articolo viene esplorata la natura e la funzione della fantasia di suicidio considerando l'impatto della pubertà sull'immagine del corpo femminile e sullo sfondo di una relazione pre-edipica ed edipica del padre con sua figlia. Viene presentato il materiale dall'analisi di una adolescente per illustrare il ruolo cruciale del padre, nel transfert, precedente al tentato suicidio.

Parole chiave: stato pre-suicidio, fantasia di suicidio, immagine corporale femminile e della pubertà, padre pre-edipico ed edipico, transfert, contro-transfert

Während eines prä-suiziden Zustands, ist das Ausagieren einer Suizidphantasie die motivierende Kraft. Die Eigenschaft und Funktion einer Suizidphantasie wird in diesem Artikel im Zusammenhang mit dem Einfluss der Pubertät auf das weibliche Körperbild und mit dem Hintergrund der prä-ödiplaen und ödipalen Beziehung des Vaters zu seiner Tochter exploriert. Es wird Fallmaterial aus der Analyse eines adoleszenten Mädchens vorgestellt, um die wichtige Rolle des Vaters in der Übertragung vor einem Suizidversuch zu illustrieren.

Keywords: Prä-suizider Zustand, Suizidphantasie, Pubertät und das weibliche Körperbild, prä-ödiplaer und ödipaler Vater, Übertragung, Gegenübertragung     

Moved to tears: Technical considerations and dilemmas encountered in working with a 13-year-old boy with acquired quadriplegia 1

This paper is about therapeutic work with David, a 13-year-old boy who, at the age of 5, was the victim of a hit-and-run road traffic accident resulting in quadriplegia. The circumstances leading to the accident and its sequelae reveal a particularly complex picture, which combines early emotional deprivation and trauma. Although cognitively intact and able to speak, David could not move. Yet he created movement in others through a desperate necessity, by communicating via the employment of extreme projective forces. The highly complex presentation of emotional, psychic and bodily damage in the child, and in particular, David's physical paralysis, has had a profound impact upon what I have come to think of as the ‘mindbody’ of the therapist. Winnicott has talked of the infant's ‘psyche/soma’. Here I want to extend the notion and consider the bodily impact of projections in particular and how these have a powerful emotional and physical resonance on the ‘mindbody’ of the therapist, especially in therapy with a young person whose body is damaged. In this paper, I consider technical challenges and dilemmas encountered in the work, including the complex interplay of transference/countertransference phenomena. This unusual presentation of a boy in extraordinary circumstances led to considerations of psychoanalytic method and interpretative activity, which may be viewed as being inspired by ‘emotional truthfulness’.2 2 Alex Dubinskey (Chair ACP conference 2004) commenting on aspects of this work used the term ‘emotional truthfulness’.

Dans cet article, l'auteur raconte son travail thérapeutique auprès de David, âgé de 13 ans, qui à l'âge de 5 ans fut victime d'un accident de la circulation avec délit de fuite, accident qui le laissa tétraplégique. Les circonstances qui aboutirent à l'accident et à ses séquelles forment un tableau particulièrement complexe mettant en jeu des carences affectives précoces et des traumatismes. Bien que ses capacités cognitives ne fussent nullement atteintes et qu'il fut capable de parler, David ne pouvait pas bouger. Par l'urgence désespérée de son discours, transmise grâce à des projections extrêmement puissantes, il réussissait à susciter du mouvement chez ses interlocuteurs. La présence conjointe et extrêmement complexe de dommages affectifs, psychiques et corporels chez cet enfant – et notamment sa paralysie physique – eut un impact profond sur ce que l'auteur en vient à appeler l'“ esprit-corps ” du psychothérapeute. D. W. Winnicott a parlé du “ psyché-soma ” du jeune enfant. Dans son texte, l'auteur élargit cette notion, notamment pour prendre en considération l'impact corporel des projections, ainsi que leur résonance émotionnelle et physique massive sur l'“ esprit-corps ” du thérapeute, surtout lorsque son patient est une personne jeune dont le corps est endommagé. L'auteur explore les défis et dilemmes techniques rencontrés au cours de son travail, y compris le jeu complexe de phénomènes transférentiels et contre-transférentiels. Ce traitement, inhabituel, avec un garçon dans des circonstances sortant de l'extraordinaire soulève des questions concernant la méthodologie psychanalytique et l'activité interprétative, questions qui peuvent être considérées comme étant inspirées par la “ véracité émotionnelle ”.

Dieser Artikel ist über die therapeutische Arbeit mit David, einem 13-jährigen Jungen, der im Alter von 5 Jahren das Opfer eines Unfalls mit Fahrerflucht war, der zu einer Querschnittslähmung führte. Die Umstände, die zu dem Unfall führten und seine Folgen legen ein besonders komplexes Bild dar, das frühe Vernachlässigung und Trauma kombiniert. Obwohl David kognitiv intakt war und sprechen konnte, konnte er sich nicht bewegen. Doch schaffte er Bewegung aus verzweifelter Notwendigkeit in anderen, indem er mit mithilfe der Benutzung von extremen projektiven Kräften kommunizierte. Die höchst komplexe Präsentation von emotionalem, psychischem und körpelichem Schaden in dem Kind und insbesondere Davids körperliche Lähmung, hatte eine tiefe Auswirkung auf das, was ich nun den ‘mindbody’ (Gemütskörper) des Therapeuten nenne. Winnicott sprach vom Psyche/Soma des Babies. Hier möchte ich diesen Begriff ausweiten und besonders die köperliche Auswirkung der Projektionen betrachten und wie diese eine starke emotionale und physische Resonanz auf den ‘mindbody’ des Therapeutens haben, insbesondere in der Therapie mit einer jungen Person, deren Körper beschädigt ist. In diesem Artikel betrachte ich technische Herausforderungen und Dilemmas, denen man in dieser Arbeit begegnet, einschliesslich der komplexen Wechselwirkung von Übertragungs/ Gegenübertragungsphänomenen. Diese ungewöhnliche Behandlung mit einem Jungen in aussergewöhnlichen Umständen führten zu Überlegungen zur psychoanalytischen Methode undzur Deutungsaktivität, die von ‘emotionaler Wahrheit’ inspiriert wird

Riassunto: In questo articolo si parla del lavoro terapeutico con David, un bambino di 13 anni che, all'età di 5 anni, fu vittima di un incidente stradale che portò alla quadriplegia. Le circostanze che portarono all'incidente e la sua sequela rivelano un quadro particolarmente complesso, nel quale emerge un misto di deprivazione emotiva precoce e trauma. Sebbene David fosse abile cognitivamente e potesse parlare, egli non poteva muoversi. Eppure il bambino generava movimento negli altri attraverso una disperata necessità, comunicando con l'uso di estreme forze proiettive. Il presentarsi di un danno nel bambino altamente complesso nella sua dimensione emotiva, psichica e corporea, ed in particolare, la paralisi fisica di David, hanno avuto un profondo impatto su ciò che ho iniziato a pensare come il ‘corpomente’ del terapeuta. Winnicott ha parlato dello ‘psiche/soma’ del neonato. L'autrice vuole nell'articolo estendere la nozione e considerare l'impatto corporeo delle proiezioni e come queste abbiano una risonanza emotiva e fisica molto forte sul ‘corpomente’ del terapeuta, soprattutto nella terapia con un ragazzo giovane il cui corpo è stato danneggiato. Nell'articolo considero le sfide tecniche e i dilemmi incontrati nel lavoro, compreso il gioco complesso dei fenomeni transferali e controtransferali. Il trattamento insolito con questo bambino in circostanze molto particolari ha portato a considerazioni riguardo al metodo psicoanalitico e all'attività interpretativa, che si possono considerare come ispirati da ‘verità emotiva'¹