Trauma and defences: their roots in relationship. An overview

In this paper the differing psychodynamic models of defences are outlined and compared with an attachment theory perspective in which affect regulation plays a central role. Behavioural and intrapsychic distance regulation (defensive exclusion) are seen as the main strategies for affect regulation and are the manifestations of the habitual pattern of emotional regulation in the relationship between the child and the primary caregiver. A new perspective on unconscious fantasy is offered, in which fantasies are seen to be actively created as defensive narratives to protect the development of healthy narcissism and to become integrated into a person's internal working models. Archetypal defences are explored from a developmental perspective and some neurobiological issues relevant to defences are highlighted.     

Groups, group members and individual decision processes: the effects of decision strategy, social interaction style and reception of decision-threatening information on post-decision processes

In two experiments, one conducted at an individual level and one at a group level, it was investigated how decision strategies and the reception of decision-threatening information affect the degree of post-decision consolidation for both individual and group decision-makers. In Experiment 1, roughly half the 55 participants made decisions in three-person groups and the other half individually. The type of decision strategies subjects employed (compensatory, non-compensatory, other) was assessed by questionnaire. In two post-decision sessions, consolidation was assessed using a memory task, either decision-supporting or decision-threatening information being provided at the start of the last post-decision session. In Experiment 2, the same design and procedure were used at a group level. In both experiments, the groups (and the single group members) were analyzed with the SYMLOG instrument. The results indicated that individual decision-makers consolidated their own decisions more than members of decision-making groups. There was also greater post-decision consolidation with the use of non-compensatory decision strategies as well as with reception of decision-threatening information, this latter result being seen as providing an explanation for the greater consolidation that individual decision-makers showed. Furthermore, single task-oriented group members and groups with a task-oriented leader consolidated the decision made by their group.     

Estrogen modulates place learning through estrogen receptors in the hippocampus

Moderate elevations in circulating estradiol enhance learning in tasks that tap place learning strategies such as those requiring the use of extramaze cues. Use of place learning strategies is particularly impaired by damage to the hippocampus, a structure shown to be sensitive to estrogen treatments. We have shown that direct estrogen infusions into the dorsal hippocampus, and not the dorsolateral striatum, enhance place learning, suggesting that the hippocampus may be an important modulatory site for the effects of estrogen on place learning. The current experiment tested whether the hippocampus is indeed a critical site of estrogen modulation through classical estrogen receptors. Young adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were ovariectomized for 21 days and given systemic injections (0.1 ml) of sesame oil (OIL) or 10 microg of 17beta-estradiol-benzoate (E2), 48 and 24 h before being trained on a place task. Twenty-four hours prior to the first systemic injection, separate groups of rats received bilateral hippocampal implants of either the antiestrogen ICI 182,780 (ICI) or cholesterol vehicle. Implants were maintained until and throughout training. Intrahippocampal ICI reversed the enhancement in place learning seen with systemic E2 treatment. Unexpectedly, intrahippocampal ICI in OIL-treated rats also enhanced place learning. These data suggest that ICI may have some mixed agonist and antagonist effects in the hippocampus and that estrogen enhances place learning through activation of estrogen receptors located in the hippocampus.     

Conditional visuo-motor learning and dimension reduction

Conditional visuo-motor learning consists in learning by trial and error to associate visual cues with correct motor responses, that have no direct link. Converging evidence supports the role of a large brain network in this type of learning, including the prefrontal and the premotor cortex, the basal ganglia (BG) and the hippocampus. In this paper we focus on the role of a major structure of the BG, the striatum. We first present behavioral results and electrophysiological data recorded from this structure in monkeys engaged in learning new visuo-motor associations. Visual stimuli were presented on a video screen and the animals had to learn, by trial and error, to select the correct movement of a joystick, in order to receive a liquid reward. Behavioral results revealed that the monkeys used a sequential strategy, whereby they learned the associations one by one although they were presented randomly. Human subjects, tested on the same task, also used a sequential strategy. Neuronal recordings in monkeys revealed learning-related modulations of neural activity in the striatum. We then present a mathematical model inspired by viability theory developed to implement the use of strategies during learning. This model complements existing models of the BG based on reinforcement learning (RL), which do not take into account the use of strategies to reduce the dimension of the learning space.     

Emotional Word Detection and Adolescent Repressive–Defensive Coping Style

This study used a computer-based emotional word-recognition task to assess the emotional processing styles of repressive–defensive youth. A hypothesis was tested proposing that adolescent repressive–defensive coping style is associated with rapid engagement and disengagement of emotional stimuli (negative and positive). Data were collected on a male adolescent sample enrolled in a juvenile diversion program allowing for the comparison of anxious, low-anxious, and repressive–defensive youth. Consistent with prediction, repressive–defensive participants exhibited facilitated responding to emotional relative to neutral word stimuli across valence category (i.e., positive and negative). In contrast, anxious participants exhibited a unique pattern of facilitated responding to positive word stimuli. The current findings represent a first attempt at investigating the processing impairments of repressive–defensive coping style in a nonadult sample. Results are interpreted in light of broader adult and child research findings on emotional processing and affective disturbance.     

Bridging the gap between theory and model: a reflection on the balance scale task

At first glance, the two lead articles in this issue share little except the balance scale task, yet we view them as complementary rather than unrelated or contradictory. Our Reflection focuses on the individual strengths of the two lead articles and, to a greater extent, the potential power of their combined perspectives. Our general approach is to allow psychological theory to suggest a model of performance that can both evaluate specific theoretical claims and reveal important features of the data that had been previously obscured using conventional statistical analyses. Our guiding principle is that model, theory, and data all should be connected.     

成年人现实生活问题解决的年龄差异

采用自行编制的十个与现实生活有关的问题,对２０至８５岁的成年人,分成青年至老老年四个年龄组进行测验,试图探讨成年人现实生活问题解决的年龄差异;并同时进行２０个问题（简称猜图）作业的实验,以期对比研究。结果看到：（１）两组主试对现实生活问题解决的评分一致率合格（ｒ值均在０．７４以上）。（２）对现实生活问题解决提出方案的数量（Ｎ）,三个较年轻组比老老年组答案多些;解决问题有效最高分（Ｈ）和各方案的平均     

儿童的直接推理能力及策略的发展

采用文字形式陈述前提,让儿童根据前提内容回答问题,以了解儿童在语言条件下的直接推理能力。并通过事后追问儿童作答的原因,对儿童推理的策略进行分析。结果表明：（1）6岁和7岁儿童初步发展了语言条件下的直接推理能力,8岁儿童形成了这种能力。从6岁到8岁,儿童的这种推理能力随年龄增长而迅速提高。（2）否定前提和肯定前提没有给儿童的直接推理造成影响。而且,反义词的转换,也没有增加任务的推理难度。（3）从6岁到8岁儿童的有效生成能力和使用能力都在明显提高。6岁、7岁儿童在直接推理时有效策略和无效策略并存,但几乎所有的8岁儿童都使用了“重复或解释前提”这一有效策略。     

国际学术交流中的诡道:AIDS病毒发现权之争

关于艾滋病病毒发现权之争的著述在国外已有许多,但国内对这一事件从科学史角度的研究还不多见.本研究试图在艾滋病的最初发现,病源学研究,以及病毒发现之争的起因等方面进行回顾的基础上,对美国科学家和美国政府在这一事件中的一些做法和表现,从美国当代国家科学发展战略观的角度进行解读,并通过历史分析求得有益的启示.     

行为表现与言语报告:3～5岁儿童的一级观点采择(英文)

为考察3~5岁儿童一级观点采择的行为表现与言语报告之间的潜在差异,本研究采用"单面镜"范式设计了两个实验。实验1中,54名儿童成对与实验者一起完成观点采择游戏,逻辑回归分析结果表明3-5岁儿童的行为表现不存在显著差异(B=?0.225,Wald=0.38,p=0.541)。方差分析也没有发现儿童的行为表现和言语报告存在差异。由于实验1中的编码系统存在一些局限,并且缺少对儿童偏好的控制,因此在实验2中进行了改进。实验2选择了另外60名3~5岁儿童完成藏玩具游戏。方差分析发现了实验范式类型(行为表现或言语报告)、年龄和性别的三因素交互作用(F(2,48)=3.55,p=0.037,η2=0.13)。结果表明随着年龄增加,男孩与女孩一级观点采择的行为表现都显著提高,而男孩言语报告的提高程度显著低于女孩。总体而言,考察儿童一级观点采择时,行为表现可能比言语报告提供更多信息。