Evaluating the Sampling Performance of Exploratory and Cross-Validated DETECT Procedure with Imperfect Models

Among the methods proposed for identifying the number of latent traits in multidimensional IRT models, DETECT has attracted the attention of both methodologists and applied researchers as a nonparametric counterpart to other procedures. The current study investigated the overall performance of the DETECT procedure and its outcomes using a real-data sampling design recommended by MacCallum (2003 MacCallum, R.C. (2003). Working with imperfect models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 38 (1), 113–139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327906MBR3801_5[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and compared the results from a purely simulated data set that was generated with a well-specified “perfect” model. The comparison revealed that the sampling behavior of the maximized DETECT value and R-ratio statistics was quite robust to minor factors and other model misspecifications that potentially exist in the real data set, as there were negligible differences between the results of the real and simulated data sets. Item classification accuracy was also nearly identical for the real and simulated data sets. The accuracy of the identified number of dimensions reported by DETECT was the only outcome with an obvious difference between the purely simulated data set and the real data set. While the difference was small for smaller sample sizes, the identified number of dimensions was more accurate for larger sample sizes when the population data set was purely simulated. In many instances, exploratory DETECT analysis outperformed the cross-validated DETECT analysis in terms of overall accuracy.     

BION'S “EVIDENCE” AND HIS THEORETICAL STYLE

The author discusses “Evidence” (1976), a brief but very intense and fascinating paper in which Bion provides a unique opportunity to see him at work in his clinical practice. In the story of a patient, Bion reconstructs two sessions that are all the more true for being imaginary—i.e., narrated (“dreamed”). The matter of language and style in psychoanalysis is of the utmost importance, according to Bion—one could say, literally, a matter of life or death. In Bion's discourse, writing, reading, and analysis converge in the same place, the author notes; all are significant if they involve an experience of truth and the ability to learn from experience.     

The Development of a Simple Ballistic Skill with and Without Visual Control

80 randomly selected male Ss discriminated the “effort” required to perform a simple 1-handed ballistic aiming task: aligning a Fletcher’s Trolley with a pointer placed at varying distances adjacent to an inclined wooden track. Groups were aged 5-6, 10-11, 15-16, and 18 or more yr., with 10 Ss able to see both hands and target while the other 10 could see neither. A split-plot factorial design was used. On excluding the 5-6 yr.-old “Nonvision” children, the remaining 7 sub-groups were shown to be homogeneous. Mean absolute error scores increased with Distance, and also with a decrease in Age. In the “Non-vision” condition accuracy was reduced still further for all Ss. Age, Vision, and Distance and the interaction of Age with Vision were all significant, p<.01.     

The Emergence of Student Creativity in Classroom Settings: A Case Study of Elementary Schools in Korea

This research explores the emergence of student creativity in classroom settings, specifically within two content areas: science and social studies. Fourteen classrooms in three elementary schools in Korea were observed, and the teachers and students were interviewed. The three types of student creativity emerging in the teaching and learning process found in this research were: (a) heuristic creativity when the students express their thoughts about a new concept based on their experience, (b) interpretive creativity when the students explain the meaning of materials based on students' knowledge, and (c) integrative creativity when students generate new solutions or make new products based on their internalized knowledge. The study results will challenge teachers to find instances of student creativity in their teaching and learning situations and to facilitate student creativity when the students interpret data or materials related to the contents of the curriculum.     

Dissociation of Bimanual Responses With the Simon Effect: On the Nonunitization of Bimanual Responses

The authors examined whether responses of the 2 hands were completely unitized when participants (N = 36) produced bimanual responses to lateralized targets in a Simon-type paradigm. Their primary aim was to investigate whether lateralized stimuli differentially influence the response dynamics of the 2 hands. Simon effects were obtained in reaction time and force; components of the bimanual response by the hand on the same side as the lateralized stimulus were more forceful than were those of the other hand. Also, Simon effects were larger when the lateralized target appeared alone than when it was accompanied by a distractor on the other side of the display. Finally, responses of the 2 hands were correlated most strongly when stimulus displays were symmetrical. The authors conclude that bimanual responses are strongly coupled, but not perfectly so.     

Action across emptiness

This paper examines how autism may affect the processing and containing of emotions and sensations. At the beginning of life we can hypothesise that the baby develops two means of processing experience: containment that involves a sensory and mimetic trace of relational experience (proto-containment) and containment which, through the α function and projective and introjective functions translates feelings into meaning (♀/♂). Both these means of processing emotional experience remain active throughout life but oscillate the one with the other. The main hypothesis of this work is that the autistic child is not able to oscillate between real containment (♀/♂) and a primitive form of proto-containment. The author aims to explore, through clinical material, the factors which may promote this oscillation. Autistic children often use non-verbal communication. The author examines how a particular type of action can cross the relational void in the therapeutic relationship through a process that can transform feelings of great distress in the analyst via acts that can be described as an Act of Faith, as described by Bion. This form of action that can cross the void is like an artistic performance.     

Children in psychodynamic psychotherapy: changes in global functioning

This study was part of the Erica Process and Outcome Study. The aim was to investigate if children's global functioning improves after psychodynamic psychotherapy. Variables that may predict changes in global functioning were examined both statistically and qualitatively, for example, the child's age and gender; diagnosis and comorbidity; treatment variables. The sample consisted of 33 children (five to 10 years of age) who participated in psychodynamic psychotherapy with parallel work with parents. Twenty-nine children had at least one DSM-IV diagnosis, and 15 children had comorbid conditions. At the start of psychotherapy, the most frequent diagnoses were attention disorder and disruptive behaviour. Child psychotherapists rated the children's global functioning using CGAS and HCAM. Large effect sizes were obtained (d = 1.80 and d = 1.98). However, no statistical correlations were found between global functioning and the selected variables. In order to illuminate the complex connection between process and outcome the study was complemented with in-depth case studies where data were taken from questionnaires, completed by the child therapists every third month. Two child therapies were selected: one in which the therapist rated a large change and one in which a small change was rated (CGAS). The analysis showed that important individual change, for example, attainment of formulated goals, was not always reflected in the change rated using the CGAS. Findings suggest that psychodynamic child psychotherapy can be beneficial. However, further research is needed to identify factors that contribute to change in children's global functioning.     

The Father-Daughter Relationship in Sigrid Undset's Writings

In every psychoanalysis, there is a contradiction between an eternal and a limited time perspective as regards the analytic task. This corresponds to the contradictory relationship existing between the unconscious, which is timeless, and the linear time of external reality. On the basis of these conditions, this paper describes how the experience of time in different ways is significant for analytical understanding and how it influences the analytic work. Various phenomena related to time and the perception of time are illustrated by clinical vignettes. The difficulties in handling the time limit are discussed from both a theoretical and a practical point of view. At the termination of a psychoanalysis, the two time perspectives meet. This presents opportunities for insight and change as well as a special challenge to both the analysand and the analyst.