Review of Making up the mind: How the brain creates our mental world.

Reviews the book, Making up the mind: How the brain creates our mental world by Chris Frith (see record 2007-00531-000). This book directly addresses the fundamental question as to how the brain creates the inner world of humans from an empirical perspective. It provides an excellent introduction to some of the most exciting recent cognitive-neuroscience research along the way. To find an answer to his question, the author takes a broad stance and draws on advances in areas as diverse as action control, visual perception, language, emotion, social cognition, and schizophrenia. From this research, he derives several general principles that aim to capture the relationship between mind and brain in more abstract terms. These principles provide the thread that makes not only for a thought-provoking, unifying theoretical account, but also for an impressively cohesive narrative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not a page-turner, but a very intellectually-challenging book.

Reviews the book, How the mind works by S. Pinker (1998). How the mind works provides an excellent example of what I consider a very good, thought-provoking scientific book. It is true that I often put the book down, sometimes for long periods. But during those down times I still continued to read, in the sense described earlier. That is, I continued to consider the thoughts and issues raised by Pinker, often discussing them with colleagues, in an attempt to decide for myself where I stood on the issues. I found that I agreed with some of Pinker's views while disagreeing with others. However, I will not recount my opinions here, because I expect a different reader would have very different opinions for the reasons described above. Instead, I will highlight the characteristics of Pinker's book that make it such a non-page-turner. In my view, the strengths of the book are rooted in three characteristics: (a) the perspective, (b) the subject matter, and (c) the writing style. The combination of interesting and relevant issues, an engaging writing style, and a strong stance on every issue make the book very challenging intellectually. I was not comfortable moving on to some new issue before I had formed an opinion on the previous one. Often this required me to talk with colleagues and at the end of the title. Perhaps it would not reflect the extend the debate beyond the book and into the faculty conviction with which Pinker holds his opinions, but it lounge. At other times it pushed me to simply take some would better reflect the challenge to readers to form their time to reflect on the issues. Perhaps the highest accolade own opinions. that can be given to a scientific book is that it forces one to think and form opinions. How the mind works is clearly deserving of that accolade. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous repetitive thoughts can be adaptive: Postscript on “mind wandering”.

When researchers use the term mind wandering for task-unrelated thoughts in signal detection tasks, we may fall into the trap of believing that spontaneous thoughts are task unrelated in a deeper sense. Similar negative connotations are attached to common terms like cognitive failures, resting state, rumination, distraction, attentional failures, absent-mindedness, repetitiveness, mind lapses, going AWOL in the brain, cortical idling, and the like. Nevertheless, it seems obvious that mathematicians and scientists often engage in spontaneous repetitive thoughts and that the results of those thoughts are by no means maladaptive. Yet that seems to be implied by the standard use of common terms in the research literature. As humans, we know that spontaneous ideation goes on during all of our waking hours, during dreams and even in slow-wave sleep. It is unlikely that such a great allocation of mental resources has no useful adaptive function. This view of the spontaneous stream is consistent with the perspective of global workspace theory on conscious contents, which suggests that conscious events are not like unconscious cognitive representations. Rather, conscious events trigger widespread adaptive changes in the brain, far beyond their cortical origins. The brain evidence for such “global broadcasting” triggered by conscious (but not matched unconscious) events throughout the cortex is now quite compelling. Spontaneous conscious thoughts, even if they appear to be arbitrary, irrelevant, unwanted, or intrusive, may still play an important adaptive role in life-relevant problem solving and learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Mind regained.

Reviews the book, Mind regained by Edward Pols (see record 1998-06466-000). In this text, Pols seeks to treat the difficult and perplexing question of the relationship between mind and body in a way that is nonetheless accessible to the non-professional philosopher. Pols takes issues with the position of many contemporary philosophers and psychologists that the brain provides the ultimate causal explanation of mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and reflective function: their role in self-organization

The paper traces the relationship between attachment processes and the development of the capacity to envision mental states in self and others. We suggest that the ability to mentalize, to represent behavior in terms of mental states, or to have "a theory of mind" is a key determinant of self-organization which is acquired in the context of the child's early social relationships. Evidence for an association between the quality of attachment relationship and reflective function in the parent and the child is reviewed and interpreted in the context of current models of theory of mind development. A model of the development of self-organization is proposed which has at its core the caregiver's ability to communicate understanding of the child's intentional stance. The implications of the model for pathological self-development are explored, with specific reference to the consequences of maltreatment.     

Jungian metapsychology and neurobiological theory

This paper deals with brain research and depth psychology. Because brain research is becoming significantly more sophisticated and increasingly able to assay the neurobiology of subjective (i.e., mental) events in vivo, it is suggested that any school of depth psychology will probably not survive as a mainstream treatment modality if its theory and practice is found to be in frank variance with the findings of the modern neurosciences. Jung's psychology is compared to Freud's and shown to be reasonably consonant with such findings. Historical highlights of Jung's non-reductive way of conceptualizing and working are presented and put in the context of more recent scientifically defensible concepts (emergence, supervenience, complexity theory) from the fields of both philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. These concepts postulate a hierarchical model of reality which permits an exploration of the mind/brain relationship without resorting to reductionism or dualism. A sense of the present struggle is conveyed between the proponents of these and more traditional scientific concepts. Finally, the nature of mind/brain confluence is elucidated by examples from the areas of learning, memory and the capacity to symbolize in order to illustrate how clinical practices and observations familiar to experience depth therapists and also in agreement with Jungian theory are compatible with neuroscientific findings. A research suggestion is offered.     

Near-death experiences: Out of body and out of mind?

Comments on the original article, "Implications of near-death experiences for a post-materialist psychology," by B. Greyson (see record 2010-03251-005). Greyson (2010) has argued that complex consciousness (i.e., near-death experiences, or NDEs) under conditions such as cardiac arrest and general anesthesia challenge “materialist reductionism” and require a revised psychology anchored in 21st-century quantum physics that includes consciousness in its conceptual formulation. Unfortunately, Greyson fails to specify how quantum mechanics or a holistic approach can (a) enlighten our understanding of NDEs and (b) pave a foundation for a “new scientific conceptualization of the interface between mind and brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We agree with Greyson that NDEs are fascinating phenomena, and we further recognize that quantum mechanics undergirds chemistry, and so surely plays some as-yet- undefined role in mental processes. However, we sharply disagree that it is necessary to “expand models of the mind” on the basis of quantum mechanics “before we can progress in our understanding of consciousness and the brain (Greyson, 2010, p. 43).” We do not wish to duel with Greyson regarding if and when the brain is “completely disabled” during NDEs, but instead argue that the future is bright for understanding NDEs in terms of the everyday workings of the brain, and suggest important avenues of inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Active euthanasia and assisted suicide: a perspective from an American abortion and Dutch euthanasia scenario

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To discuss the critical issues involved in the legalization of active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. DATA SOURCES: Nursing, medical, legal, and ethics literature; newspaper articles; book chapters. DATA SYNTHESIS: The major terms employed in the discussion of active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are defined. The implications of the recent Supreme Court decision on these practices are outlined. The Dutch euthanasia and the American abortion scenarios are used as models for the interpretation of the effects of future legislation on such practices. CONCLUSIONS: Oncology nurses need to be cognizant of the crucial issues involved in the practices of active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide and determine their philosophical stance regarding the practices. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: If active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide practices are legalized, oncology nurses will have to make decisions about their desired degree of involvement in acts that will end their patients' lives.     

Toward an open-minded comparative study of the neuroevolutionary substrates of affect: Rejoinder to Blumberg and Sokoloff's (2003) reply.

How affects are generated in the brain is one of the most important neuroscientific questions. If other animals do experience affective states that are homologous to those experienced by humans, then such difficult topics can be analyzed through the pursuit of behavioral brain research in carefully selected animal models. Validation can be achieved by utilizing neurochemical knowledge derived from such work to make predictions in psychoethological human studies. Presently there is abundant evidence that other animals do experience various affective states, but most behavioral neuroscientists are unwilling to conceptualize such issues in terms of testable working hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward strengthening the contingency table as a statistical method.

The contingency method is examined in terms of such issues as small samples, indices of relationship, computational procedures, higher order interactions, and specification of hypotheses. Techniques presently described have improved the interpretation of contingency data, provided a means of quantifying qualitative data, and have contributed to the analysis of more complex problems such as pattern analysis. 45 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Passive versus active consciousness.

Comments on H. Shevrin and S. Dickman's (see record 1980-10863-001) article, focusing on the issue of the assumed passivity of consciousness (CSC). Features of the modern computer are described as a parallel to the cognitive system. In humans and higher animals, CSC operates as a subsystem of the total brain/mind system, which includes nonconscious subsystems (NCSs). NCSs may operate as analytic processes, as suggested by Shevrin and Dickman, but CSC searches and selects from products of the lower subsystems according to both biologically and experientally determined programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Education and training in counseling psychology.

Suggests that employment settings are related to SES trends and discusses their combined impact on the training of counseling psychologists (CPs). Some training models are described, and doctoral programs are reviewed in terms of history, setting, and training emphases. Certification and licensing issues are considered, along with related issues such as retraining. The ever-changing identity of counseling psychology is presented as an obstacle to reaching a consensus as to what constitutes appropriate training for CPs. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How to Stop Engineers from Becoming “Bush Lawyers”: The Art of Teaching Law to Engineering and Construction Students

Law forms a core part of most engineering and construction programs. The way that law subjects are taught varies dramatically, and too often focuses on trying to teach students complex aspects of the law, such as contract, tort, and trade practices. This paper suggests that the aim of including law subjects in construction and engineering degrees needs to be clearly understood as this determines the content of the law subject. It is argued that the reason for including a law subject should be not to teach students the law, but rather to train them to recognize when legal issues arise in their work, and how to respond to such issues. With this aim in mind, a model curriculum is proposed and insight given into how to most effectively implement such a course.     

Integrating some mind and brain views of transference: the phenomena

Because understanding the underpinnings of transferential learning allows the analyst to more effectively exploit transference in the clinical situation, as well as to advance psychoanalytic theory, the functions and mechanisms of transference phenomena in learning are subjected to an interdisciplinary analysis. Through transference the brain creates hierarchical databases that make emotional sense of the world, especially the world of human relationships. Transference plays a role in defense and resistance clinically; less explored but equally important is the adaptive potential of transference and its effect on an individual's readiness for structural change through the activation of working memory. Most investigators within psychoanalysis have not considered the importance of similarity judgments and memory priming, especially as these help to explain why transference and its proper handling are effective in treatment. Yet there are complex relationships among transference, similarity judgment, and memory priming that tie together psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology. Evidence increasingly suggests a relationship between transference and the transfer of knowledge between various content domains (databases) of mind and brain, which is essential to cognitive and emotional learning. There are indications as well that transference decisively facilitates learning readiness ("windows") in general by means of two of its components: free association and spontaneous (self-initiated) activity. The important question of which mind/brain mechanisms motivate transference is not yet understood comprehensively. However, Vygotsky's work on the zone of proximal development (ZPD), M.Stern's teleonomic theory, schema theory, and neural network theory offer further insights into what motivates transference.     

Theory of mind associations with other cognitive functions and brain imaging in normal aging.

The study investigated age-related differences in theory of mind and explored the relationship between this ability, other cognitive abilities, and structural brain measures. A cohort of 106 adults (ages 50–90 years) was recruited. Participants completed tests of theory of mind, verbal and performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (measurement of whole brain volume, volume of white matter hyperintensities, and diffusion tensor imaging of white matter integrity). Theory of mind ability declined with increasing age, and the relationship between theory of mind and age was fully mediated by performance intelligence, executive function, and information processing speed and was partially mediated by verbal intelligence. Theory of mind performance correlated significantly with diffusion tensor imaging measures of white matter integrity but not with volume of white matter hyperintensities or whole-brain volume. Theory of mind age-related decline may not be independent of other cognitive functions; it may also be particularly susceptible to changes in white matter integrity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic transparency in the processing of compounds: consequences for representation, processing, and impairment

The role of semantic transparency in morphological processing in general and in compound processing in particular is examined. It is argued that the notion of semantic transparency is crucial to an account of how compounds are represented and processed in the mind. A sketch of a model is proposed in which compound processing is described in terms of stimulus properties, lexical properties, and conceptual properties. The model represents the notion of semantic transparency in terms of a four-way classification of the semantic relationship between a compound's constituents and the corresponding independent morphemes. It also distinguishes between semantically componential and noncomponential compounds. It is proposed that the model offers a framework within which experimental psycholinguistic findings can be understood and within which aphasic deficits associated with compound processing can be characterized. As an example of this, the paper presents a reanalysis of an aphasic patient who exhibits the tendency to interpret semantically opaque compounds as though they were transparent and to interpret opaque compounds in terms of a blend of constituent and whole-word meaning. It is argued that the underlying deficit in this patient is the failure for inhibition to result from the competition among stimuli at the conceptual level of representation.     

Applying Tarasoff to AIDS-related psychotherapy issues.

This article provides a framework, based on the Tarasoff decision and its sequelae, for examining several confidentiality issues that may emerge in psychotherapy situations related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Four Tarasoff issues (special therapeutic relationship, dangerousness, identifiable victim, therapist's action to detain and/or warn) are described and applied to therapy situations with clients who have AIDS or are positive for antibodies. Recommendations are provided for psychotherapists dealing with such confidentiality dilemmas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

My developing understanding of Roger Wolcott Sperry's philosophy

Reviewed are some of the dramatic experimental results and penetrating analyses characterizing the career of Roger Sperry. These require that we seriously consider his opinions regarding matters not yet testable, especially regarding the brain/mind relationships. His opinions include first, that a worthwhile understanding of brain function requires a biological explanation of consciousness; second, that mental properties described by him as "overall pattern effects in brain dynamics" can govern neuronal traffic at the cellular level by virtue of "mental forces'; and third, that further development of this outlook can provide a scientific basis for moral values. Discussion here is restricted to the first two of these points, urging that most criticisms of them arise largely from semantic confusions inherited from our past. Particular emphasis is placed on distinguishing mind from soul, thus totally separating the brain-onto-mind mapping problem from the nexus problem inherited from Descartes. Taken here is a physicalist position regarding mind, together with agnosticism regarding the nonmaterial.     

The traditional Mestizo view: Implications for modern psychotherapeutic interventions.

Provides mental health professionals with an overview of basic Mestizo tenets. Fundamental issues such as the Mestizo perception of health, the mind–body relationship, metaphysics, and family and community factors are discussed to increase therapeutic sensitivity when working with Mestizos. Suggestions for dealing with these factors are outlined. A holographic model is suggested as a Western-based means of understanding the Mestizo perspective. A holographic paradigm is also recommended as a unifying conceptual model between the 2 divergent world views. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)