Developmental trajectory in the relationship between calculation skill and finger dexterity: A longitudinal study

A 2‐year longitudinal study of 33 children aged 4–6 years was conducted to clarify the developmental relationship between calculation skill and finger dexterity, as well as the selectivity of the predictive power of finger dexterity on later calculation skill. We examined individual developmental change in the relationship between addition performance and finger dexterity and observed whether children fit a linear developmental pattern. Multiple regression analysis showed that participants' performance on addition tests was strongly predicted by their finger dexterity. However, their performance on vocabulary tests was not strongly influenced by finger dexterity. These findings suggest that calculation skill in children aged 4–6 years is strongly related to finger dexterity.     

国外儿童词汇识别发展眼动研究的新进展

近年来,国外儿童阅读发展的眼动研究已逐渐成为阅读研究热点领域。本文就国外儿童阅读的眼动研究成果进行概述,从儿童阅读眼动研究的基本问题、字词、句子、篇章和相关理论等方面对儿童的阅读过程进行考察,总结其阅读发展的一般规律和特点。最后,文章从阅读材料、统计方法以及研究设计几个方面对儿童阅读研究的方法性问题进行展望,以期为中文阅读发展的眼动研究提供借鉴     

Experience of Parental Marital Dissolution Earlier in Life and the Disposition to Forgive Among Older Violent and Non-Violent Prisoners

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in self-reported dispositional forgiveness types among older male prison inmates who experienced parental separation/divorce earlier in life. Participants included a sample of N = 261 incarcerated men, aged 45 and older, residing in state-managed prisons in Oklahoma. IBM/SPSS 22.0 was used to examine mean differences across forgiveness of self, situation, and others. Significant mean differences were evident only for forgiveness of situation. In particular, significant differences emerged relative to depressive affect F (1, 192) = 19.90, p < .001, and social support F (1, 192) = 18.64, p < .001. After controlling for age, race, religiosity, depression, social support, perceived health, crime type, and parental separation/divorce, one significant interaction (crime type X parental separation/divorce) emerged, F (1, 192) = 4.42, p < .05. It appears that the disposition to forgive the situation among older prison inmates depends on criminal offender type as well as whether the older inmate experienced parental dissolution earlier in life. Implications for pastoral counseling programing and forgiveness therapy treatment for older male prison inmates who experienced parental separation/divorce earlier in life are discussed.     

Some effects of stimulant medication on response allocation: a double-blind analysis

Children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or who engage in behavior consistent with such a diagnosis) are often prescribed stimulant medications for hyperactive or inattentive behaviors. However, the mechanisms by which stimulant medications affect individuals' behavior are rarely evaluated. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of stimulant medication on response allocation when antecedents and consequences were held constant and equated. Results indicated that the presence of an amphetamine medication (Adderall) influenced response allocation across two concurrently available responses while all other stimulus conditions were held constant.     

Genders and sexualities in individuation: theoretical and clinical explorations

Abstract :  Gender assignment, as a key aspect of identity and cultural position, has existed throughout recorded time and across all cultures. An individual's biological sex and particular cultural milieu has a profound effect on their sense of themselves as a gendered being. Sexuality is a more recent marker in identity formation. In the last few decades there has emerged a great deal of interest in the psychology of gender formation, in the interplay of biological sex, culture, brain development, and attachment experiences in the formation of gender identities. Queer theory in its post-modern deconstructionist thinking has suggested that gender is a socially 'constructed' concept having no biological or psychological precursors or realities. Contemporary developmental psychoanalysis is bridging the gap between concepts of gender as purely biological and gender as non-existent. In this paper I explore the emergence of same-sex desire at mid-life, presenting two case histories with extensive dream material. The impact of sexual desire on gender identities is examined through the lenses of culture, dynamic systems theory, neuroscience, and depth psychology. The use of dream analysis as a window into the body/mind movement of gender emergence reflects my sense of gender as a fluidly shifting reality of mind, neither hardwired nor fictional.     

A Longitudinal Study of Semantic Grouping Strategy Use in 6–11-Year-Old Children: Investigating Developmental Phases,the Role of Working Memory,and Strategy Transfer

This two-cohort longitudinal study on the development of the semantic grouping strategy had three goals. First, the authors examined if 6–7-year-olds are nonstrategic before becoming strategic after prompting at 8–9 years of age, and if 8–9-year-olds are prompted strategic before spontaneous strategy use at 10–11 years of age. Children 6–7 and 8–9 years old performed two sort-recall tasks (one without and one with a grouping prompt) at two time points separated 1.5 years from each other. Second, the authors investigated whether short-term or working memory capacity at time point 1 predicted recall in children who did or did not use the semantic grouping strategy 1.5 years later. Third, the authors investigated whether prompted strategic children and children who used the strategy spontaneously differed in strategy transfer to a new task. Developmental results confirmed previous cross-sectional results, but in a longitudinal two-cohort study 6–7-year-olds were nonstrategic, and became prompted strategic around 8–9 years of age, followed by spontaneous strategy use at age 10–11 years. The authors found that memory capacity was not predictive of later use of the strategy. New findings were that prompted strategic children were as equally able as spontaneously strategic children to transfer the strategy to a new task, albeit with smaller recall benefits.     

“My graduation is my mother's funeral”: Transformation from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position in fear of success,and the role of the internal saboteur

Abstract

Freud's conflation of neurotic and existential guilt is challenged in this paper. A study of fear of success in a female analysand is presented that illustrates the resolution of this syndrome through a mourning process in which the neurotic guilt of Melanie Klein's paranoid-schizoid position is transformed into the existential guilt of Klein's depressive position. An evolution within the depressive-position existential guilt is seen as the analysand mourns and separates from an internal mother and father, who are hostile to her developmental needs. This evolution involves the transformation of an idealizing transference, symptomatically enacted through gradations of vicarious living through the analyst, being profoundly transformed into the analysand's active creation of an identity in the world. Simultaneously, the internal world becomes alive in psychic fantasy. This transformation also involves the modification of an internal sabotaging psychic structure, which had been compelled by the dissociated punitive reaction of an internalized angry mother of separation trauma, employing the unconscious re-enactment of an early infant illness. Split-off envy and split-off self-sabotage become consciously owned through the grieving of existential guilt, as visceral experience is converted into symbolization.

Susan Kavaler-Adler. “Meine Graduierung ist das Begräbnis meiner Mutter”: Transformation von der paranoidschizoiden zu der depressiven Position in der Furcht vor Erfolg – und die Rolle des innerenSaboteurs.

Freuds Verschmelzung von neurotischer und existentieller Schuld wird in dieser Arbeit in Frage gestellt. Eine Studie der Furcht vor Erfolg bei einer weiblichen Analysandin wird dargestellt und sie zeigt die Auflösung dieses Syndroms durch einen Trauer-Prozess in dem die neurotische Schuld von Melanie Klein′s paranoid-schozoider Position in die existentielle Schuld von Klein′s depressiver Position umgewandelt wird. Eine Evolution innerhalb der depressiven Position und existentieller Schuld wird gesehen als die Analysandin trauert und sich von der inneren Mutter und dem Vater trennt, die gegenüber ihren Entwicklungsbedürfnissen feindlich eingestellt sind. Bestandteil dieser Evolution ist die Umwandlung einer idealisierenden Übertragung, symptomatisch inszeniert durch Abstufungen vikariierenden Lebens durch die Analytikerin und gründlich umgewandelt in die aktive Schöpfung einer Identität in der Welt der Analysandin. Simultan wird die innere Welt in psychischer Phantasie lebendig. Diese Umwandlung involviert auch die Modifikation einer inneren seelischen Struktur, die durch die dissoziierte strafende Reaktion einer internalisierten ärgerlichen Mutter eines Trennungs Traumas aufgezwungen worden war, wobei eine unbewußte Reinszenierung eines frühen kindlichen Traumas eingesetzt wurde. Abgespaltener Neid und abgespaltene Selbst Sabotage werden dem Bewußtsein zugänglich durch ein sich Grämen in existentieller Schuld so wie viszerale Erfahrung in Symbolisierung umgesetzt wird.

Susan Kavaler-Adler. “Mi graduación es funeral de mi madre”: La transformación desde la posición esquizoparanoide a la depresiva en el miedo al éxito, y el rol del saboteador interno.

La combinación de la culpa neurótica y la culpa existencial de Freud is puesta en duda. Se presentará un estudio sobre el miedo al éxito de una analizanda mujer para ilustrar la resolución de este síndrome a través de un proceso de duelo en el cual la culpa neurótica de la posición esquizo-paranoide de Melanie Klein se transforma en la culpa existencial de la posición depresiva de Klein. Como una evolución dentro de la posición depresiva la culpa existencial es vista mientras la analizanda hace el duelo y se separa de su padre y madre internalizados, quienes son hostiles hacia sus necesidades de desarrollo. Esta evolución involucra la transformación de una transferencia idealizada actuada sintomáticamente a través de gradaciones de formas de vida sustitutivas a través de la analista, para pasar a ser una de transformación profunda en la activa creación de la identidad de la analizanda en el mundo.Simultáneamente su mundo interno toma vida en la fantasia psíquica. Esta transformación también involucra la modificación de la estructura psíquica interna saboteadora, que había sido impuesta por la reacción punitiva disociativa de una madre enojada internalizada por el trauma de separación, empleando la reactivación inconsciente de una enfermedad de la infancia temprana. La envidia y el autosabotage escindidos se vuelven conscientes a través de la aflicción de la culpa existencial, así como la experiencia viceral es convertida en simbolización.     

Seduction,date rape,and aborted surrender

Abstract

This paper clarifies the dual-layered nature of the “demon lover complex,” with its background of both pre-Oedipal trauma and Oedipal-level desire. It draws on an object relations understanding of the unconscious and dissociated addiction to an internal demon object that has derivations in the personalities of the actual parents, and in the internalization of these parents. The dramatic case of early trauma compounded by adult date rape trauma serves to illustrate how a “developmental mourning process” in treatment can resolve such trauma. It also illustrates how reparation with the mother that partially heals pre-Oedipal trauma cannot immunize anyone against Oedipal-level attractions to a “demon lover” father, as represented in a displacement, resulting in victimized behavior, and in an aborted surrender to heterosexual desire. However, this victimization can be resolved, as seen in the clinical illustration, when the psychoanalyst has an understanding of the mourning process in developmental terms, working with a natural interaction between mourning and transference evolutions in treatment. The case also demonstrates the transitional object role of the psychoanalyst who is involved with the healing of pre-Oedipal trauma through mourning.     

Mental rotation of letters,pictures, and three-dimensional objects in German dyslexic children

This study examines mental rotation ability in children with developmental dyslexia. Prior investigations have yielded equivocal results that might be due to differences in stimulus material and testing formats employed. Whereas some investigators found dyslexic readers to be impaired in mental rotation, others did not report any performance differences or even superior spatial performance for dyslexia. Here, we report a comparison of mental rotation for letters, three-dimensional figures sensu Shepard and Metzler, and colored pictures of animals or humans in second-grade German dyslexic readers. Findings indicate that dyslexic readers are impaired in mental rotation for all three kinds of stimuli. Effects of general intelligence were controlled. Furthermore, dyslexic children were deficient in other spatial abilities like identifying letters or forms among distracters. These results are discussed with respect to the hypotheses of a developmental dysfunction of the parietal cortex or a subtle anomaly in cerebellar function in dyslexic readers.