Fictions of the internal object

This paper examines internal objects in their role as theoretical constructs which analysts use to make sense of human experience. Object relations theory is based upon a vision that the personality is divided or split into parts. Clinical experience reveals that such splits are commonly expressed in the language of our analysing. However, a lexical reality is not a thing-in-itself, but a way of organizing and understanding experience. Jung's vision of the dynamics of the split self encompass a unique 'object relations theory' that is both similar and yet quite different from the object relations theories of Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott and Thomas Ogden A clinical example is used to examine the way in which these different theoretical views explain the same clinical phenomenon. The last section of the paper is devoted to a narrational analysis of the place of internal objects in analytic theory. The split self, dynamic is seen as a narrative device - one that makes sense and provides coherence, but is neither the only view of psychic reality nor necessarily an accurate reflection of the nature of the internal world.     

The safety and conspicuity of pedestrian crossing at roundabouts: The effect of median refuge island and zebra markings

Roundabouts are one of the most used road intersections because, compared to signalized ones, they reduce conflict points between traffic flows and moderate driving speed. Great attention should also be paid to vulnerable road users at roundabouts. According to accident statistics, in fact, accessibility of pedestrians and cyclists is not always ensured.This paper has evaluated the effects on the visibility of pedestrian crossing before and after the displacement of zebra markings, moved before intersections, and the introduction of media refuge islands and “Yield here to pedestrians” vertical signs. The above effects have been assessed by before-after analysis of speed and visual behaviour of drivers approaching the crosswalk.Moreover, the analysis of the drivers’ eye movements has highlighted the most salient elements of the pedestrian crossing. The relation between the drivers’ visual behaviour and the vehicle speed have also been calculated. Results have confirmed that the intervention carried out has increased both visibility and safety of the studied pedestrian crosswalks.Zebra markings and the median refuge island have turned out to be the most glanced elements, respectively seen by 93.75% and 56.25% of the drivers, followed by the “Yield here to pedestrians” vertical sign. The mean distance of first fixation of the crosswalk increased from 21.98 m before the intervention, to 40.69 m after it. The drivers perceived the pedestrian crossings from a longer distance after the intervention, and they continued to glance at the crosswalk while approaching it, enhancing their visual attention.     

The Impact of Item Misspecification and Dichotomization on Class and Parameter Recovery in LCA of Count Data

Mixture analysis of count data has become increasingly popular among researchers of substance use, behavioral analysis, and program evaluation. However, this increase in popularity seems to have occurred along with adoption of some conventions in model specification based on arbitrary heuristics that may impact the validity of results. Findings from a systematic review of recent drug and alcohol publications suggested count variables are often dichotomized or misspecified as continuous normal indicators in mixture analysis. Prior research suggests that misspecifying skewed distributions of continuous indicators in mixture analysis introduces bias, though the consequences of this practice when applied to count indicators has not been studied. The present work describes results from a simulation study examining bias in mixture recovery when count indicators are dichotomized (median split; presence vs. absence), ordinalized, or the distribution is misspecified (continuous normal; incorrect count distribution). All distributional misspecifications and methods of categorizing resulted in greater bias in parameter estimates and recovery of class membership relative to specifying the true distribution, though dichotomization appeared to improve class enumeration accuracy relative to all other specifications. Overall, results demonstrate the importance of accurately modeling count indicators in mixture analysis, as misspecification and categorizing data can distort study outcomes.     

幻忆现象研究现状述评

幻忆(Déjà vu)是指任何对目前体验的一种不适宜的熟悉感, 并伴随着对过去体验的不确定感。年龄、梦、教育水平、旅行经历、生理状况和药物都会对幻忆产生造成影响。研究发现, 内侧颞叶和嗅内皮质与幻忆有着紧密的联系。目前主要通过知觉分离范式、情景再现范式、单成分元素交互作用范式、无辨别再认范式和催眠范式来研究幻忆现象。幻忆的研究仍然存在着若干问题, 这些问题需要进一步探讨。     

Evaluating a split processing model of visual word recognition: effects of orthographic neighborhood size

The split fovea theory proposes that visual word recognition of centrally presented words is mediated by the splitting of the foveal image, with letters to the left of fixation being projected to the right hemisphere (RH) and letters to the right of fixation being projected to the left hemisphere (LH). Two lexical decision experiments aimed to elucidate word recognition processes under the split fovea theory are described. The first experiment showed that when words were presented centrally, such that the initial letters were in the left visual field (LVF/RH), there were effects of orthographic neighborhood, i.e., there were faster responses to words with high rather than low orthographic neighborhoods for the initial letters ('lead neighbors'). This effect was limited to lead-neighbors but not end-neighbors (orthographic neighbors sharing the same final letters). When the same words were fully presented in the LVF/RH or right visual field (RVF/LH, Experiment 2), there was no effect of orthographic neighborhood size. We argue that the lack of an effect in Experiment 2 was due to exposure to all of the letters of the words, the words being matched for overall orthographic neighborhood count and the sub-parts no longer having a unique effect. We concluded that the orthographic activation found in Experiment 1 occurred because the initial letters of centrally presented words were projected to the RH. The results support the split fovea theory, where the RH has primacy in representing lead neighbors of a written word.     

Conscious and unconscious processing of facial expressions: Evidence from two split‐brain patients

We investigated how the brain's hemispheres process explicit and implicit facial expressions in two ‘split‐brain’ patients (one with a complete and one with a partial anterior resection). Photographs of faces expressing positive, negative or neutral emotions were shown either centrally or bilaterally. The task consisted in judging the friendliness of each person in the photographs. Half of the photograph stimuli were ‘hybrid faces’, that is an amalgamation of filtered images which contained emotional information only in the low range of spatial frequency, blended to a neutral expression of the same individual in the rest of the spatial frequencies. The other half of the images contained unfiltered faces. With the hybrid faces the patients and a matched control group were more influenced in their social judgements by the emotional expression of the face shown in the left visual field (LVF). When the expressions were shown explicitly, that is without filtering, the control group and the partially callosotomized patient based their judgement on the face shown in the LVF, whereas the complete split‐brain patient based his ratings mainly on the face presented in the right visual field. We conclude that the processing of implicit emotions does not require the integrity of callosal fibres and can take place within subcortical routes lateralized in the right hemisphere.     

Effects of muscle fatigue on the usability of a myoelectric human-computer interface

Electromyography-based human-computer interface development is an active field of research. However, knowledge on the effects of muscle fatigue for specific devices is limited. We have developed a novel myoelectric human-computer interface in which subjects continuously navigate a cursor to targets by manipulating a single surface electromyography (sEMG) signal. Two-dimensional control is achieved through simultaneous adjustments of power in two frequency bands through a series of dynamic low-level muscle contractions. Here, we investigate the potential effects of muscle fatigue during the use of our interface. In the first session, eight subjects completed 300 cursor-to-target trials without breaks; four using a wrist muscle and four using a head muscle. The wrist subjects returned for a second session in which a static fatiguing exercise took place at regular intervals in-between cursor-to-target trials. In the first session we observed no declines in performance as a function of use, even after the long period of use. In the second session, we observed clear changes in cursor trajectories, paired with a target-specific decrease in hit rates.     

Influence of the median opening length on driving behaviors in the crossover work zone—A driving simulation study

Work zone safety has been a major concern for drivers and transportation agencies. Considering the severe consequences of crossover work zone crashes coupled with the limited literature on the median opening length, this paper aims to investigate the influence of the median opening length on driving behaviors from a behavioral perspective in crossover work zones. A driving simulation study with 32 participants was carried out to investigate the driving performance by metrics (speed, acceleration, maximum steering wheel speed, and lane-changing trajectory) with respect to five median opening lengths. The significant differences of each driving performance metric among various median opening lengths were found in the process of crossing through the median opening on the entrance by-pass and exit by-pass. The results indicated that drivers’ speeds were always higher than the speed limits for all median opening lengths. A narrower median opening may induce risky driving behaviors such as sharp deceleration and decelerating while lane-changing, which may increase speed variance. When crossing through the median opening with a larger length, high speed variance, sluggish lane-changing operations, and improper lane-using behaviors were observed because the excessive lane-changing space provided by the larger median opening length would decrease the situation awareness and increase the speed preference heterogeneity among drivers. Finally, some traffic management strategies were proposed, which can improve the safety and mobility of crossover work zones and further provide a basis for the formulation of related standards.