Clinging,gripping, holding,containment: Reflections on a survival reflex and the development of a capacity to separate

This paper attempts to describe how, in the very first months of extra‐uterine life, personality structures are formed around notions of personal space, separateness, attachment and individuation. The contribution of a forgotten Hungarian analyst, Imre Hermann, who wrote about the ‘clinging reflex’, will be explored in relation to the origin of Bowlby's concept of attachment and Rey's theoretical understanding of personal space. Particular attention will be given to transitions, transitional experiences and the development of a sense of internal space. Vignettes from infant observations will be used to illustrate the theoretical frame of reference. Clinical material from the analysis of a child and an adult patient will be provided to postulate how a distorted perception of personal space and separateness in the first few months of life may affect the capacity to attach and to individuate.     

Review of Haydée Faimberg,The telescoping of Generations: Listening to the Narcissistic Links between Generations,London and New York,Routledge, 2005

Abstract

The V Nordic Conference of IFPS, Sweden January 23-24,1993

Activities of The Postgraduate Psychoanalytic Society October 1992-June 1993     

Transposed-letter priming effect in Hebrew in the same–different task

We investigated the interaction between morphological structure and transposed-letter priming using the same–different task with Hebrew, a Semitic language in which morphology has been shown to play a key role in visual word recognition. In contrast to the results observed with lexical decision (e.g., Velan & Frost, 2009, 2011), a transposed-letter priming effect was observed irrespective of the morphological structure of the words. We take these results to suggest that morphological decomposition occurs only in the service of lexical access. We discuss further a unique feature of written Arabic, another Semitic language, to explain the apparent conflict between our findings and those reported by Perea, Abu Mallouh, García-Orza, and Carreiras (2010).     

Flank to the left,flank to the right: Testing the modified receptive field hypothesis of letter-specific crowding

The present study tested for effects of number of flankers positioned to the left and to the right of target characters as a function of visual field and stimulus type (letters or shapes). On the basis of the modified receptive field hypothesis (Chanceaux & Grainger, 2012), we predicted that the greatest effects of flanker interference would occur for leftward flankers with letter targets in the left visual field. Target letters and simple shape stimuli were briefly presented and accompanied by either 1, 2, or 3 flankers of the same category either to the left or to the right of the target, and in all conditions with a single flanker on the opposite side. Targets were presented in the left or right visual field at a fixed eccentricity, such that targets and flankers always fell into the same visual field. Results showed greatest interference for leftward flankers associated with letter targets in the left visual field, as predicted by the modified receptive field hypothesis.     

Immediate recognition memory for wine

We describe a preliminary investigation concerning the short-term recognition memory function for gustatory stimuli (wines). In Experiment 1A, 24 non-expert wine drinkers completed a yes/no recognition task for 3-wine sequences. For the raw recognition scores, the serial position function comprised both primacy and recency. Recency did not, however, achieve significance for the d′ scores. In Experiment 1B, 24 participants completed the same yes/no recognition task for 3-visual matrix sequences. In contrast to Experiment 1A, the serial position function comprised recency and an absence of primacy. We argue that the presence of primacy for the wine sequences cannot be interpreted via a verbal labelling strategy, nor can it be interpreted via proactive interference from the first wine in the list on subsequent list items. The result suggests qualitative differences in the memory processing for gustatory and non-verbal visual stimuli.     

Within-word serial order control: Adjacent mora exchange and serial position effects in repeated single-word production

An essential function of language processing is serial order control. Computational models of serial ordering and empirical data suggest that plan representations for ordered output of sound are governed by principles related to similarity. Among these principles, the temporal distance and edge principles at a within-word level have not been empirically demonstrated separately from other principles. Specifically, the temporal distance principle assumes that phonemes that are in the same word and thus temporally close are represented similarly. This principle would manifest as phoneme movement errors within the same word. However, such errors are rarely observed in English, likely reflecting stronger effects of syllabic constraints (i.e., phonemes in different positions within the syllable are distinctly represented). The edge principle assumes that the edges of a sequence are represented distinctly from other elements/positions. This principle has been repeatedly observed as a serial position effect in the context of phonological short-term memory. However, it has not been demonstrated in single-word production. This study provides direct evidence for the two abovementioned principles by using a speech-error induction technique to show the exchange of adjacent morae and serial position effects in Japanese four-mora words. Participants repeatedly produced a target word or nonword, immediately after hearing an aurally presented distractor word. The phonologically similar distractor words, which were created by exchanging adjacent morae in the target, induced adjacent-mora-exchange errors, demonstrating the within-word temporal distance principle. There was also a serial position effect in error rates, such that errors were mostly induced at the middle positions within a word. The results provide empirical evidence for the temporal distance and edge principles in within-word serial order control.     

Differential effect of one versus two hands on visual processing

Hand position in the visual field influences performance in several visual tasks. Recent theoretical accounts have proposed that hand position either (a) influences the allocation of spatial attention, or (b) biases processing toward the magnocellular visual pathway. Comparing these accounts is difficult as some studies manipulate the distance of one hand in the visual field while others vary the distance of both hands, and it is unclear whether single and dual hand manipulations have the same impact on perception. We ask if hand position affects the spatial distribution of attention, with a broader distribution of attention when both hands are near a visual display and a narrower distribution when one hand is near a display. We examined the effects of four hand positions near the screen (left hand, right hand, both hands, no hands) on both temporal and spatial discrimination tasks. Placing two hands near the display compared to two hands distant resulted in improved sensitivity for the temporal task and reduced sensitivity in the spatial task, replicating previous results. However, the single hand manipulations showed the opposite pattern of results. Together these results suggest that visual attention is focused on the graspable space for a single hand, and expanded when two hands frame an area of the visual field.     

Serial position effects in 2-alternative forced choice recognition: Functional equivalence across visual and auditory modalities

Two experiments examined Ward, Avons, and Melling's (2005) proposition that the serial position function is task, rather than modality, dependent. Specifically, they proposed that for backward testing the 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) recognition paradigm is characterised by single-item recency irrespective of the modality of the stimulus presentation. In Experiment 1 the same nonword sequences, presented both visually or auditorily, produced qualitatively equivalent serial position functions with 2AFC testing. Forward testing produced a flat serial position function, while backward testing produced two-item recency in the absence of primacy. In order to rule out the possibility that the serial position functions for visual stimuli were the product of sub-vocal rehearsal, Experiment 2 employed articulatory suppression during the presentation phase. Serial position function equivalence was again observed together with a modest impairment in overall recognition rates. Taken together, these data are consistent with the Ward et al. proposition and further support the existence of a visual memory that can facilitate storage of visual-verbal material (e.g. Logie, Della Sella, Wynn, & Baddeley, 2000). However, the observation of two-item recency contradicts the original duplex account of single-item recency traditionally observed for backwards recognition testing of visual stimuli (Phillips & Christie, 1977).     

The Symbolic Object

Abstract

The term “symbolic object” is introduced as a way to understand the moments between analyst and patient where “something” new and dynamic emerges within the dyadic relationship. The symbolic object is the bridge between the idealized, all-good object and symbolization proper. The intrapsychic atmosphere between self and object representations is in a relatively non-conflicted state during this process. By reformulating the Nirvana principle and the principle of constancy as ways in which the organism economically strives for the most organized and homoeostatic state possible, the infant or adult can be seen to be searching for the position of lowest unpleasure possible. This is the optimum balance between the libidinal and aggressive forces in the self and object representational field. These moments of “truce” between often highly conflicted phantasies usher in a more refined use of projective identification as a form of intrapsychic/interpersonal communication. This is a particular atmosphere from which both parties, within the projective/introjective, back-and-forth dyadic world, can begin to co-create and rediscover assorted amalgams of self and object functioning. This newly awakened psychic entity is the symbolic object. This outgrowth of something fresh to the dyadic orbit is a mutative moment that propels the relationship into a different direction. Within the pairing of minds, a novel and mutual understanding is produced. Both parties share this new symbolic object and each is shaped by it.