Psychological maturity and change in adult defense mechanisms

Change in the use of defense mechanisms between late adolescence and adulthood was assessed in two different longitudinal studies from the Institute of Human Development. The results were virtually identical: the use of Identification decreased, the use of Denial increased, and there was little change in the use of Projection. Both the use of Identification at adolescence, and its subsequent decrease in adulthood were found to be predicted by ego strength and committed Identity - that is, by evidence of developmental maturity at late adolescence. The decrease in Identification is consistent with predictions from the theory of defense mechanism development: defenses are related to developmental period; once that period is concluded, the use of the related defense declines.     

Exclusion constraints facilitate statistical word learning

The roles of linguistic, cognitive, and social-pragmatic processes in word learning are well established. If statistical mechanisms also contribute to word learning, they must interact with these processes; however, there exists little evidence for such mechanistic synergy. Adults use co-occurrence statistics to encode speech-object pairings with detailed sensitivity in stochastic learning environments (Vouloumanos, 2008). Here, we replicate this statistical work with nonspeech sounds and compare the results with the previous speech studies to examine whether exclusion constraints contribute equally to the statistical learning of speech-object and nonspeech-object associations. In environments in which performance could benefit from exclusion, we find a learning advantage for speech over nonspeech, revealing an interaction between statistical and exclusion processes in associative word learning.     

Who speaks? Who looks? Who feels? Point of view in autobiographical narratives1

In this paper, the author aims to substantiate Freud's claim that neurotic illness creates gaps in autobiographical narratives in terms of the narrator's stating and inducing perspectives. He sketches out the role of narrative perspective and the joint taking of a shared perspective by analyst and patient in psychoanalytic therapy. He introduces four ways of representing perspectives in narratives. Three degrees of narrative distortion are exemplifi ed by three excerpts from life narratives and explored in terms of narrative perspective representation. The most comprehensive perspective representation is achieved in the fi rst example by explicitly stating the present perspective of the narrator as well as the past perspective of the story's protagonist by use of mental verbs. In the second narrative, exclusive use of linguistic forms for inducing the protagonist's perspective both overwhelms the narrator and gives the listener an incomplete picture of what happened. Inconsistent motives, denial of responsibility and omission of detail render the third narrative even more diffi cult to follow. The author discusses the clinical signifi cance of this exploratory analysis of perspectives in narratives in terms of claiming responsibility for one's past action and of level of defence mechanisms, and by highlighting the emotional impact on listeners, which the author suggests is the stronger the more perspectives are left out. He discusses analogies to countertransference. The analysis of narrative perspectives offers an approach for systematic research in psychoanalytic practice.     

防御机制的年龄、性别与文化差异

本研究考察了生命全程中防御机制使用的年龄、性别和文化差异。被试年龄范围为１０～８６岁,其中美国被试为１６８人（男８５人,女８３人）,中国大陆被试为１５６人（男７６人,女８０人）。本研究运用测验法对被试的防御机制进行测查,结果表明：不同文化背景下个体使用的防御机制有明显的差异,中国被试比美国被试更多地使用指向自我与理智化两种防御机制,更少使用指向他人与投射;同时防御机制的使用表现出显著的年龄特征,中老年被试比年轻被试较多使用反向而较少使用指向他人与投射;防御机制的使用还表现出显著的性别差异,女性比男性更多使用指向自我而更少使用反向。     

Psychotherapy: Definitions, Mechanisms of Action, and Relationship to Etiological Models

In this paper, we define psychotherapy as a modality of treatment in which the therapist and patient(s) work together to ameliorate psychopathologic conditions and functional impairment through focus on the therapeutic relationship; the patient's attitudes, thoughts, affect, and behavior; and social context and development. The possible mechanisms of action and active ingredients of psychotherapy in children and adolescents are discussed, with an emphasis on the above-noted domains. The adult psychotherapy literature strongly supports the central roles of the therapeutic relationship and therapeutic empathy; this has been much less intensively explored in the child and adolescent psychotherapy literature. Similarly, there have been few studies examining the mediation of treatment effects by impact on specific domains. Ideally, treatment studies should gather data that can be informative about the impact of putative mediating and moderating psychosocial and biological variables on outcome and course. The results of such studies can aid further refinements in both theories of etiology and improvement in treatments for children and adolescents.     

情绪调节脑机制的研究现状与展望

随着脑成像等新技术的运用,关于情绪调节脑机制的研究有了很大进展。近期国外情绪调节脑机制的研究在理论模型上有了新发展;研究关注的情绪调节从有意情绪调节扩展到自动情绪调节;研究针对的情绪、情绪调节策略以及目标群体都有了进一步的扩展和深化;情绪调节脑机制的个体差异研究也有了新进展。本文试图对近期国外情绪调节脑机制研究的发展状况进行梳理,并展望未来研究方向,以期为国内研究提供参考。     

焦虑障碍的虚拟现实暴露疗法研究述评

虚拟现实暴露疗法(VRET)是传统的行为疗法的一种转换形式, 也是经典的现实情境暴露疗法的替代性治疗形式。虚拟现实整合了即时计算机图形学、身体感觉传感、视觉成像技术, 给来访者提供近似真实的、可以沉浸(immersion)和交互作用的虚拟环境。研究者采用虚拟现实暴露疗法治疗幽闭恐怖症、恐高症、飞行恐怖症、创伤后应激障碍、惊恐障碍等焦虑障碍, 并且关注虚拟现实暴露疗法的认知机制以及心理生理机制。实验研究表明, 虚拟现实暴露疗法在治疗焦虑障碍时是有效的。被试经过治疗之后, 对情境的控制感和自我效能感提升, 消极自我评价降低, 对创伤事件的容忍力提高, 重新获得对情境的控制感。与心率指标相比, 皮肤电是预测虚拟现实暴露疗法治疗效果更好的指标。虚拟现实暴露疗法还处于实验验证阶段, 并没有应用到实际临床中, 需要更加规范的实验设计验证该疗法的认知机制以及心理生理机制。虚拟现实暴露疗法结合功能磁共振成像(FMRI)用于心理治疗, 会是未来发展的新方向。     

Transference focused psychotherapy: overview and update

This paper describes a specific psychoanalytic psychotherapy for patients with severe personality disorders, its technical approach and specific research projects establishing empirical evidence supporting its efficacy. This treatment derives from the findings of the Menninger Foundation Psychotherapy Research project, and applies a model of contemporary psychoanalytic object relations theory as its theoretical foundation. The paper differentiates this treatment from alternative psychoanalytic approaches, including other types of psychoanalytic psychotherapy as well as standard psychoanalysis, and from three alternative non-analytical treatments prevalent in the treatment of borderline patients, namely, dialectic behavior therapy, supportive psychotherapy based on psychoanalytic theory, and schema focused therapy. It concludes with indications and contraindications to this particular therapeutic approach derived from the clinical experience that evolved in the course of the sequence of research projects leading to the empirical establishment of its efficacy.     

Mechanisms by Which Childhood Personality Traits Influence Adult Well-Being

ABSTRACT— Children's personality traits have enduring effects that shape adult well-being. In particular, childhood conscientiousness influences core aspects of adult well-being: health, friendships, and mastery. Research is now examining the mechanisms by which early personality traits initiate and sustain particular life paths. These include mediating and moderating mechanisms that may operate during critical developmental periods or may build cumulatively over time. Future research would benefit from testing theoretically derived mechanisms for different traits and examining variables as they change over time, using both short- and long-term longitudinal designs over different life stages.     

错误加工的神经机制

错误加工在认知控制和行为监控中起着关键的作用。监控自己的认知和行为结果,觉察到应该的反应和实际的反应之间的差别（即错误）,纠正这种错误并防止再犯是错误加工的主要内容。错误反应或由代表反应错误等负性反馈刺激诱发的ERP相对于正确反应或由代表反应正确等正性反馈刺激诱发的ERP,表现出一个相对负走向的波形变化,称为错误相关负波（error-related negativity, ERN）和反馈相关负波（feedback-related negativity, FRN）,两者都定位于前扣回附近。错误加工神经机制的研究主要集中于前扣回与ERN、错误意识与错误加工、ERN与FRN的关系。对于前扣带回和ERN的功能意义的解释主要有错误检测理论、冲突监控理论、强化学习理论和预期违反假说。目前错误加工神经机制的研究在研究内容、研究方法和理论观点等方面还存在些问题,这些可能是未来进一步的研究方向