The influence of anxiety on the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry

Neurocognitive theories of anxiety predict that threat-related information can be evaluated before attentional selection, and can influence behaviour differentially in high anxious compared to low anxious individuals. We investigate this further by presenting emotional and neutral faces in an adapted binocular rivalry paradigm. We show that the initial selection of emotional faces presented in binocular rivalry is highly influenced by self-reported state and trait anxiety-level. Heightened anxiety was correlated with increased perception of angry and fearful faces, and decreased perception of happy expressions. These results are consistent with recent evidence of involuntary selection of threat in anxiety.     

Untangling the associations that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry have with agency,communion, and romantic commitment

The Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC; Back et al., 2013) proposes two strategies for maintaining a grandiose self-image. These dimensions are positively correlated, but often have divergent associations with outcomes. When used simultaneously to predict outcome variables, suppression effects often occur. We examine suppression effects for narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry in four samples (total N = 2106), examining their bivariate distribution and transforming the predictors to emphasize common and unique sources of variance. High composite NARC (high narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry) was associated with more positive self-perceptions of agency, slightly more negative self-perceptions of communality, and less romantic commitment. Domination of the narcissistic admiration pathway relative to the narcissistic rivalry pathway predicted more positive self-perceptions.     

Adolescent narcissism and interpersonal trust: A cross‐lagged study

In recent years, narcissism has been attracting considerable interest by researchers because of its enigmatic constructs. To enhance our understanding of narcissists’ psychosocial functioning, considering the relationship between narcissism and interpersonal trust is crucial. This study aimed to investigate how narcissistic admiration and rivalry are associated with interpersonal trust. To gain a more nuanced understanding, a cross‐lagged design was conducted at two time points that were six months apart. In total, 357 adolescents (M_age = 16.33 years) completed the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ) and the Interpersonal Trust Scale. The results showed that narcissistic admiration positively predicted interpersonal trust while narcissistic rivalry negatively predicted interpersonal trust at the second time point. However, interpersonal trust did not predict subsequent levels of narcissistic admiration and rivalry. These findings enhanced our understanding by showing that narcissistic admiration and rivalry have different effects on interpersonal trust, and that they remain relatively stable during a six‐month period.     

THE “AS‐YET SITUATION” IN WINNICOTT'S “FRAGMENT OF AN ANALYSIS”: YOUR FATHER “NEVER DID YOU THE HONOR OF”… YET

The author proposes a new hypothesis in relation to Winnicott's “Fragment of an Analysis”: that as early as 1955, in the case described in this text, Winnicott is creating the paternal function in his patient's psychic functioning by implicitly linking his interpretations regarding the father to the Freudian concept of Nachträglichkeit. The author introduces an original clinical concept, the as‐yet situation, which she has observed in her own clinical work, as well as in Winnicott's analysis of the patient described in “Fragment of an Analysis” (1955).     

Predictive coding explains binocular rivalry: an epistemological review

Binocular rivalry occurs when the eyes are presented with different stimuli and subjective perception alternates between them. Though recent years have seen a number of models of this phenomenon, the mechanisms behind binocular rivalry are still debated and we still lack a principled understanding of why a cognitive system such as the brain should exhibit this striking kind of behaviour. Furthermore, psychophysical and neurophysiological (single cell and imaging) studies of rivalry are not unequivocal and have proven difficult to reconcile within one framework. This review takes an epistemological approach to rivalry that considers the brain as engaged in probabilistic unconscious perceptual inference about the causes of its sensory input. We describe a simple empirical Bayesian framework, implemented with predictive coding, which seems capable of explaining binocular rivalry and reconciling many findings. The core of the explanation is that selection of one stimulus, and subsequent alternation between stimuli in rivalry occur when: (i) there is no single model or hypothesis about the causes in the environment that enjoys both high likelihood and high prior probability and (ii) when one stimulus dominates, the bottom-up, driving signal for that stimulus is explained away while, crucially, the bottom-up signal for the suppressed stimulus is not, and remains as an unexplained but explainable prediction error signal. This induces instability in perceptual dynamics that can give rise to perceptual transitions or alternations during rivalry.     

双眼竞争研究现状与展望

双眼竞争是指当双眼所呈现的图像不一致而无法形成单一、稳定的知觉进而造成知觉动态交替变化的现象,其研究已有近200年的历史,至今仍是神经科学、心理学、生理学和临床医学中的研究热点。该文阐述了双眼竞争的概念、常用测量指标;总结了双眼竞争的特点及对双眼竞争的影响因素;讨论了双眼竞争与其他形式的多稳态知觉间的关系。行为实验、脑成像和电生理实验分别揭示了双眼竞争的早期加工模型和晚期加工模型的不足之处,Tong等人综合各方面的实验结果提出了双眼竞争的多层次–混合加工理论模型,这一模型将早期加工和晚期加工模型有机地结合起来,对于研究视觉意识的神经机制具有重要的理论指导意义。在总结已有研究的基础上,该文明确指出了双眼竞争的可应用领域及未来的研究方向     

Distinguishing Subgroups of Narcissists with Latent Class Analysis

This study investigated grandiose narcissism from a categorical perspective. We tested whether subgroups of narcissists can be distinguished that differ in their expressions of more agentic (narcissistic admiration, ADM) and more antagonistic (narcissistic rivalry, RIV) pathways of narcissism. We analysed three German samples (total N = 2211; M_age = 26; 70% female) and one US sample (N = 971; M_age = 35; 74% female) using latent class analysis. Four subgroups of narcissists were consistently identified across samples from Germany and the United States: low narcissists, moderate narcissists primarily characterized by agentic aspects (ADM), moderate narcissists characterized by both agentic and antagonistic aspects (ADM + RIV), and high narcissists. The subgroups were systematically related to a number of personality traits (e.g. Machiavellianism, impulsivity) and adjustment indicators (e.g. self‐esteem, empathy). Members in the moderate narcissists—ADM subgroup showed the most adaptive characteristics while members in the moderate narcissists—ADM + RIV subgroup showed the most maladaptive characteristics. Investigating grandiose narcissism—a primarily quantitative trait—from a categorical perspective can yield valuable insights that would otherwise be overlooked. In addition, our results underline the utility of a self‐regulatory process approach to grandiose narcissism that distinguishes between agentic and antagonistic dynamics. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Blood brothers,ugly sisters: School counselling and sibling dynamics1

This article explores the particular relevance of sibling dynamics for counsellors working in schools. School, when viewed as a large ‘lateral’ organisation, both reflects and reactivates sibling dynamics. This thinking about school counselling is based on the ‘whole school’ approach, in which a school counsellor works with staff and students, and with organisational dynamics, seeking to understand the unconscious emotional life of the school system, as well as those within it. The initial sections of the article are concerned both with the place of siblings in psychodynamic theory, and with challenges which sibling dynamics present for a counsellor working in a school context. There follow three linked sections in which the invitation to ‘think sibling’ is illustrated with some clinical examples, drawn from the specific context of a boarding school. All identities have been changed and anonymised to protect confidentiality. The article concludes with a discussion of sibling dynamics in practice, within the context of schools.     

Measuring the mental

Many philosophers have argued that the subjective character of conscious experience results in a fundamental deficit of third-person (henceforth: extrospective) access to first-person experience. By comparing extrospective measurement techniques with measurement techniques in the natural sciences, we will argue that extrospective methods suffer from no such deficit.After a rejection of some principled objections against extrospective methods, a historical comparison with the development of measurement techniques in the natural sciences will show that extrospective measuring methods are still in an early stage of development. However, they can be significantly improved by way of a bootstrapping strategy, similar to that which has proven successful in the development of physical measurement techniques. One reason to expect such improvement is the availability of multiple sources of evidence, which should allow for substantial advances in extrospective measurement techniques. Finally, we will discuss new developments in pain measurement in order to show that the bootstrapping strategy is already bearing fruit.