Learning from the patient: The East,synchronicity and transference in the history of an unknown case of C.G. Jung

This article presents the history of one until now unknown case of C.G. Jung: Maggy Reichstein. Born in Indonesia in 1894 in a very aristocratic family, she brought her sister to Zurich to be treated by Jung in 1919, and later she herself was in analysis with him. Jung used her case as example in his lecture in 1937 on the realities of practical psychotherapy, relating it to the process of transference and countertransference. Jung deepened his studies in Eastern psychology after a series of dreams she had, which culminated in the Yoga Kundalini Seminars. She was also the case presented in his article of 1951 on the concept of synchronicity. Jung wrote that her case, concerning synchronicity, remained unique in his experience. Jung also published some of her mandalas. He considered her able to understand his ideas in depth. Reichstein was for Jung an important case, which challenged and triggered his interests in different subjects.     

The role of verbal and nonverbal memory in the Family Pictures Subtest: Data from children with specific language impairment

This study examined the contribution of verbal and visual memory to performance on the Family Pictures subtest of the Children’s Memory Scale. This subtest purports to assess declarative memory functioning in the visual/nonverbal domain. A total of 115 nine-year-old children participated in this study. Fifty-eight had specific language impairment (SLI), whilst the remaining 57 were typically developing (TD), with no history of language difficulties. Results showed that the children with SLI, who had intact declarative memory for visual but not verbal information, obtained significantly lower scores on the Family Pictures subtest when compared to the TD group. Regression analyses revealed that across the entire sample, individual differences on the Family Pictures subtest was best predicted by a measure of verbal working memory. These results question whether the Family Pictures subtest can be considered a measure of visual memory in pediatric populations. These results have implications for the interpretation of scores on this subtest regarding the nature of the types of neurocognitive difficulties children may exhibit.     

My word! Interference from reading object names implies a role for competition during picture name retrieval

A related word prime has been found to interfere with picture naming after unrelated intervening trials (word-to-picture interference). Recently, Stroop-type picture–word interference effects have been interpreted in terms of a postlexical response exclusion process rather than a competitive lexical selection process. An experiment is reported that examines whether word-to-picture effects could reflect response exclusion mechanisms and, more generally, strategic processing of the word prime. Forty-eight volunteer university students named aloud sequences of semantically related (and unrelated) word primes and picture targets, separated by two unrelated filler stimuli. On half of the trials, participants were asked to count backwards in threes from a random number presented immediately after naming the prime word. They were also given a surprise recall test at the end of the naming block. Results for naming times and errors indicated a main effect of relatedness; semantic interference effects were not dependent on the unfilled gap following the word prime trial and were also not tied to episodic recall of prime words. The data indicate that slowed picture naming times are more likely to emerge from processes intrinsic to word prime naming rather than controlled processing and do not readily fit the postlexical response exclusion account. The results are considered in relation to two recent accounts of interference over unrelated trials, which refer to some form of competition at, or prior to, lexical access.     

Exploring the superadditive effects of scent and pictures on verbal recall: An extension of dual coding theory

This research extends the dual coding theory of memory retrieval (Paivio 1969, 2007) beyond its traditional focus on verbal and pictorial information to olfactory information. We manipulate the presence or absence of olfactory and pictorial stimuli at the time of encoding (study 1) or retrieval (study 2) and measure the impact on verbal recall. After a time delay, scent enhances recall of verbal information, and scent-based retrieval cues potentiate the facilitative effect of pictures on recall. These results cannot be attributed merely to increased elaboration at the time of exposure.     

Reduction of false recognition through haptic presentation of objects

False recognition of an item that is not presented (the lure) can occur when participants study and are tested on their recognition of items related to the lure. False recognition is reduced when the study and test modalities are congruent (e.g., both visual) rather than different (e.g., visual study and auditory test). The present study examined whether such a congruency effect occurs for haptic and auditory modalities. After studying items presented haptically or auditorily, participants took a haptic or auditory recognition test. False recognition was reduced when both the study and test were haptic, but not when the study was auditory and the test was haptic. These results indicate that cues encoded through the haptic modality can reduce false recognition.     

Remembering 1500 pictures: the right hemisphere remembers better than the left

We hypothesized that the right hemisphere would be superior to the left hemisphere in remembering having seen a specific picture before, given its superiority in perceptually encoding specific aspects of visual form. A large set of pictures (N=1500) of animals, human faces, artifacts, landscapes, and art paintings were shown for 2s in central vision, or tachistoscopically (for 100ms) in each half visual field, to normal participants who were then tested 1-6 days later for their recognition. Images that were presented initially to the right hemisphere were better recognized than those presented to the left hemisphere. These results, obtained with participants with intact brains, large number of stimuli, and long retention delays, are consistent with previously described hemispheric differences in the memory of split-brain patients.     

Jumping to Conclusions bias,BADE and Feedback Sensitivity in schizophrenia and schizotypy

Several studies about schizophrenia have shown a cognitive bias named “Jumping to Conclusions” (JTC), defined as a decision made quickly on the basis of little evidence that occurs in these patients when performing probabilistic reasoning paradigms. The main objective of this study is to compare JTC bias and BADE (Bias Against Disconfirmatory Evidence) in patients with schizophrenia vs. participants with high/low schizotypy to understand the underlying mechanism of these cognitive biases. Probabilistic reasoning was assessed using a modified version of Drawing to Decision task. In addition to the traditional parameters of this task (Plausibility Rating (PR), Draws to Decision (DTD), BADE) we also calculated new parameters, overall accuracy and one named Feedback Sensitivity (FS) which lower scores shows greater use of feedback. The results of the study suggest a context effect: in the cued condition, there were not main differences between groups. In the uncued condition, we found higher JTC bias at stage 1 for patients. At the same time, PR at first stages related positively with Feedback Sensitivity and negatively with accuracy for patients and high schizotypy participants (high confidence is associated with worse performance and lower feedback use). BADE seems unrelated to JTC bias and FS. The results are discussed in terms of JTC like as a clinical bias and whether patients with schizophrenia are less able to use feedback.     

Boundary conditions for the influence of unfamiliar non-target primes in unconscious evaluative priming: The moderating role of attentional task sets

Evaluative priming by masked emotional stimuli that are not consciously perceived has been taken as evidence that affective stimulus evaluation can also occur unconsciously. However, as masked priming effects were small and frequently observed only for familiar primes that there also presented as visible targets in an evaluative decision task, priming was thought to reflect primarily response activation based on acquired S–R associations and not evaluative semantic stimulus analysis. The present study therefore assessed across three experiments boundary conditions for the emergence of masked evaluative priming effects with unfamiliar primes in an evaluative decision task and investigated the role of the frequency of target repetition on priming with pictorial and verbal stimuli. While familiar primes elicited robust priming effects in all conditions, priming effects by unfamiliar primes were reliably obtained for low repetition (pictures) or unrepeated targets (words), but not for targets repeated at a high frequency. This suggests that unfamiliar masked stimuli only elicit evaluative priming effects when the task set associated with the visible target involves evaluative semantic analysis and is not based on S–R triggered responding as for high repetition targets. The present results therefore converge with the growing body of evidence demonstrating attentional control influences on unconscious processing.     

Manual exploration of objects is related to 7-month-old infants’ visual preference for real objects

The present study examined whether infants’ visual preferences for real objects and pictures are related to their manual object exploration skills. Fifty-nine 7-month-old infants were tested in a preferential looking task with a real object and its pictorial counterpart. All of the infants also participated in a manual object exploration task, in which they freely explored five toy blocks. Results revealed a significant positive relationship between infants’ haptic scan levels in the manual object exploration task and their gaze behavior in the preferential looking task: The higher infants’ haptic scan levels, the longer they looked at real objects compared to pictures. Our findings suggest that the specific exploratory action of haptically scanning an object is associated with infants’ visual preference for real objects over pictures.     

Do illustrations enhance preschoolers' memories for stories? Age-related change in the picture facilitation effect

This study investigated whether illustrations facilitate story recall in preschoolers (N=58) 46 to 63 months of age. Each child was exposed to either a verbal story narrative with illustrations (Verbal and Picture condition), the narrative alone (Verbal Only condition), the narrative with uninformative illustrations (Verbal and Irrelevant Picture condition), or the illustrations alone (Picture Only condition). Children recalled the story immediately and after a 1-week delay. With increasing age, the Verbal and Picture group increasingly outperformed the other verbal groups, particularly when recalling central details conveyed by both narrative and illustrations. Performance did not vary among the three verbal groups at lower values of age, whereas the Verbal and Picture group recalled more than the other verbal groups at the older ages. Regardless of age, all verbal groups outperformed the Picture Only group, suggesting that preschoolers are unlikely to spontaneously generate a narrative from pictures alone.