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PubMed1992

The psychological unconscious. Found, lost, and regained.

In response to Greenwald's article on contemporary research on unconscious mental processes, the authors address three issues: (a) the independence of much recent research and theory from psychodynamic formulations; (b) the broad sweep of the psychological unconscious, including implicit perception, memory, thought, learning, and emotion; and (c) the possibility that the analytic power of unconscious processing may depend both on the manner in which mental contents are rendered unconscious and the manner in which they are to be processed.

Awareness↗
PubMed1998

Cortical structure and mental skills: Oskar Vogt and the legacy of Lenin's brain.

Anatomical study of the brain of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the intellectual leader of the Russian October revolution, was conducted in an unusual context. Lenin died in 1924, at 54 years of age, as a consequence of progressive cerebrovascular disease. The eminent German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt (1870-1959) was requested by the Soviet government to examine Lenin's brain; an Institute for Brain Research, directed by Vogt, was founded for this purpose in Moscow. Tens of thousands of sections were cut serially through Lenin's brain. In his official report in 1929, Vogt adduced that pyramidal neurons of layer III in several areas of Lenin's cerebral cortex were exceptionally large and numerous. Based on his opinion that these cells might subserve "associative thinking," Vogt apparently believed that this structural peculiarity could account for the strikingly acute and penetrating mental processes that had characterized Lenin's personality. Vogt's scientific activity, the cultural and political context of the study of Lenin's brain, and its modern implications are discussed briefly.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1991

[Early disturbances of development and their impact on the goals of analysis: symbolization and the establishment of the therapeutic alliance].

The author examines some early disturbances in the capacity of some patients to become aware of their psychic and affective states. These exert a profound effect on the establishment of the treatment alliance and the ability to communicate with the analyst. She compares the difficulties sometimes encountered by child analysts, working with small children who do not communicate mainly verbally, with those encountered with adults whose awareness of their mental processes and affects reveal grave disturbances. Examples are given of patients who make extreme use of metaphor and/or symbolic enactments in the analytic situation for purposes of communication with the analyst.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Working memory of school-aged children with a history of febrile convulsions: a population study.

OBJECTIVE: A prospective, population-based, case-control study was performed to ascertain whether febrile convulsion (FC) in early childhood is associated with specific working memory characteristics in school age. METHODS: From a population survey of 4,340 live-birth newborns in Tainan City, Taiwan, 103 children with confirmed FC by age 3 years were followed-up until they were at least 6 years old. Three analogous searching tasks dissociating the mnemonic and executive aspects of performances were administered to 87 of these school-aged children and to 87 randomly selected age-matched control subjects to assess the learning, spatial, and sequential working memory. RESULTS: The FC group performed significantly and consistently better than control subjects on all but one working memory measure, jumping errors. Multivariate analysis using linear regression revealed that the onset of FC before age 1 year was the only significant risk factor for deficits in mnemonic function. Prior neurodevelopmental delay was the only significant risk factor for deficits in executive function. Factors such as socioeconomic status, family predisposition for seizures, complex FC, recurrent FC, and subsequent unprovoked seizures were not risk factors for working memory deficits. CONCLUSION: The authors found that school-aged children with a history of FC demonstrated significantly better mnemonic capacity, more flexible mental processing, and higher impulsivity than their age-matched control subjects. The underlying mechanism for the facilitated working memory function in children with a history of FC needs further delineation.

Child↗
PubMed1999

If neuroimaging is the answer, what is the question?

It is unclear that we will come to a better understanding of mental processes simply by observing which neural loci are activated while subjects perform a task. Rather, I suggest here that it is better to come armed with a question that directs one to design tasks in ways that take advantage of the strengths of neuroimaging techniques (particularly positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging). Here I develop a taxonomy of types of questions that can be easily addressed by such techniques. The first class of questions focuses on how information processing is implemented in the brain; these questions can be posed at a very coarse scale, focusing on the entire system that confers a particular ability, or at increasingly more specific scales, ultimately focusing on individual structures or processes. The second class of questions focuses on specifying when particular processes and structures are invoked; these questions focus on how one can use patterns of activation to infer that specific processes and structures were invoked, and on how processing changes in different circumstances. The use of neuroimaging to address these questions is illustrated with results from experiments on visual cognition, and caveats regarding the logic of inference in each case are noted. Finally, the necessary interplay between neuroimaging and behavioural studies is stressed.

Brain↗
PubMed1995

[Localization of cortical functions by electric stimulation and functional magnetic resonance tomography. Paradigms of neural stimulation].

In this review, localization of function is discussed with respect to distributed cortical areas involved in complex mental processing. After introducing the methodology of lesion studies, some results of studies using electrical cortical stimulation are presented. With respect to functional magnetic resonance imaging, results and problems from several experiments are reported, and further questions and perspectives regarding the two methods are outlined.

Arousal↗
PubMed1995

[Psychic self-activity: history and currently of a construct].

The psychic self-activity is a hypothetical construct meant to describe and explain the mental processes which are not entirely generated by environmental stimuli nor by the need of eliminating internal stimuli. It emphasizes the proactive behavior led by curiousity, the exploratory urge and the psychic drive increase. Initially conceived by philosophers and the intuitive psychologists, this construct tends to disentangle from that speculative past and to focus on the empirical research.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Corpus callosum atrophy is associated with mental slowing and executive deficits in subjects with age-related white matter hyperintensities: the LADIS Study.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has indicated that corpus callosum atrophy is associated with global cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases, but few studies have investigated specific cognitive functions. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of regional corpus callosum atrophy in mental speed, attention and executive functions in subjects with age-related white matter hyperintensities (WMH). METHODS: In the Leukoaraiosis and Disability Study, 567 subjects with age-related WMH were examined with a detailed neuropsychological assessment and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. The relationships of the total corpus callosum area and its subregions with cognitive performance were analysed using multiple linear regression, controlling for volume of WMH and other confounding factors. RESULTS: Atrophy of the total corpus callosum area was associated with poor performance in tests assessing speed of mental processing--namely, trail making A and Stroop test parts I and II. Anterior, but not posterior, corpus callosum atrophy was associated with deficits of attention and executive functions as reflected by the symbol digit modalities and digit cancellation tests, as well as by the subtraction scores in the trail making and Stroop tests. Furthermore, semantic verbal fluency was related to the total corpus callosum area and the isthmus subregion. CONCLUSIONS: Corpus callosum atrophy seems to contribute to cognitive decline independently of age, education, coexisting WMH and stroke. Anterior corpus callosum atrophy is related to the frontal-lobe-mediated executive functions and attention, whereas overall corpus callosum atrophy is associated with the slowing of processing speed.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Frequency-amplitude characteristics of the EEG at different levels of consciousness.

The relationship between the level of consciousness and the level of brain activation was studied. The model providing gradual decreases in the level of consciousness consisted of states in the transition from waking to drowsiness. The measure of the level of consciousness, measured from subjects' self-assessments, was the change in the content of consciousness, i.e., the intensity and quality of involuntarily arising mental processes. Each of the levels of consciousness was found to correspond to a defined EEG profile. The results showed that the lowest level of activation corresponded to the state in which the subjects noted inhibition of "inner speech" and "cessation of thoughts," this being associated with a change in the dynamics of the high-frequency EEG rhythm associated with the mechanism of transmission of cognitive information.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Psychic structure.

An attempt has been made to define psychic structure in strictly psychological terms. The concept of psychic structure refers to enduring aspects of the personality and to means-end functions that do not have to be created de novo each time one is faced with a similar situation. A psychic structure is a functional organization that generates a range of meaningful contents. Structures are categorical in nature and display relative functional equivalence. The above formulation provides a place for meaning in the theory and distinguishes structured functions from structured contents. The latter are the end product of a behavioural sequence and not centres of action. In this analysis, percepts, thoughts, images, wishes, fantasies, affects and internal objects are contents, not dynamic systems that make things happen. Only people make things happen, employing operational systems as tools of adaptation. Structure formation transform temporal sequences into the units of experience and action. The spatialization of temporal order fosters the treatment of mental processes as if they occupied space in the mind as a place. This error accounts for the ready confounding of structure and content. The present analysis accepts the traditional definition of psychic structure in terms of function and organization, but without recourse to a physicalistic theory of energy and force. The above analysis was applied to a number of special problems in the theory of structure. Consideration was also given to the concept's range of application, systemic relevance and heuristic value.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

The fountain of mental youth. Search for homeostatic and adaptational hormonal processes.

Successful mental aging may be defined as maintenance of youthful attitudes, cognitive and adaptational processes despite advanced age. Maintenance of homeostasis and efficient adaptational processes are of utmost importance. It is suggested that multiple hormonal systems and processes are involved in the multidimensional, interdependent, interrelated successful aging process. Changes in their interactions over time probably occur. A complex integrated regulatory homeostatic and normalcy system is proposed. Disruption on this regulating normalization process may cause disorders, as well as accelerated mental aging. Currently not much is known about maintenance of mental normalcy, as well as homeostatic and adaptational underlying mechanisms. Their elucidation would substantially contribute to understanding of well-being, disorders, and successful as well as unsuccessful aging.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The psilocybin-induced "state of drunkenness" in normal volunteers and schizophrenics.

The effects of the psilocybin, a psychomimetic substance, on mental junctioning were investigated in normal volunteers as well as in schizophrenics. The disturbances induced constitute a psychoneurotoxic syndrome--"a state of drunkenness"--of about four hours duration which develops in three distinct phases. The basic mental symptoms of this syndrome consist of disturbances of the apperception, sensory perception and emotion. A moderate impairment of egofunctioning or reality appraisal and an inability to integrate different mental processes are observed. The psychomotor behavior is mainly harmonized to the prevailing emotional state and to the experiences caused by perceptual alterations, in a lesser degree. These changes, according to our observations, are more severe and more "psychotic-like" in schizophrenics rather than in normals. Psychopathological analysis of these changes proves that the whole syndrome cannot be considered as related to the spontaneously triggered functional psychoses or to the organic ones and, therefore, the term "model-psychosis" according to our opinion, is unsatisfactory.

Attention↗
PubMed2005

G. F. Parrot and the theory of unconscious inferences.

In 1839, Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767-1852) published a short note about a peculiar visual phenomenon--the diminishing of the size of external objects situated at a relatively small distance from the window of a fast-moving train. For the explanation of this illusion, Parrot proposed a concept of unconscious inferences, a very rapid syllogistic conclusion from two premises, which anticipated the revival of Alhazen's theory of unconscious inferences by Hermann von Helmholtz, Wilhelm Wundt, and John Stuart Mill. He also advanced the notion that the speed of mental processes is not infinitely high and that it can be measured by means of systematic experimentation. Although Parrot was only partly correct in the description of the movement-induced changes of the perceived size, his general intention to understand basic mechanisms of the human mind was in harmony with the founding ideas of experimental psychology: it is possible to study the phenomena of the mind in the same general way that the physical world is studied, either in terms of mechanical or mathematical laws.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed2007

Neurological gait disorders in elderly people: clinical approach and classification.

Gait disorders are common and often devastating companions of ageing, leading to reductions in quality of life and increased mortality. Here, we present a clinically oriented approach to neurological gait disorders in the elderly population. We also draw attention to several exciting scientific developments in this specialty. Our first focus is on the complex and typically multifactorial pathophysiology underlying geriatric gait disorders. An important new insight is the recognition of gait as a complex higher order form of motor behaviour, with prominent and varied effects of mental processes. Another relevant message is that gait disorders are not an unpreventable consequence of ageing, but implicate the presence of underlying diseases that warrant specific diagnostic tests. We next discuss the core clinical features of common geriatric gait disorders and review some bedside tests to assess gait and balance. We conclude by proposing a practical three-step approach to categorise gait disorders and we present a simplified classification system based on clinical signs and symptoms.

Aging↗
PubMed1985

The quality of the psychotherapeutic process in brain-injured patients.

This paper reviews the various mental processes which occur in patients with organic brain damage and the changes to which these patients are subjected. At the early stages directly following injury, it is necessary to restructure the personality and help it emerge from the chaotic state characterizing this phase. Later treatment concentrates on giving meaning to the different object relationships and the dialectic between self-representation and object representation. Special stress is put on the therapist's role as a receptacle for the aggressive contents which the patient transfers to him and on the necessity, on he therapist's part, to master his own counter-transference reactions and to present an identification model permitting the restoration of the patient's inner world. The psychotherapeutic model is based on the already existing models in other area of mental pathology, which have been developed in recent years, in particular in the theory of narcissism and object relations.

Brain Injuries↗
PubMed1995

Pain--old and new methods of study and treatment.

In the last 5 years several remarkable methods for localizing precisely a wide range not only of specific motor and sensory functions but as well of more complex mental phenomena in the domain of cognitive functions have been demonstrated to evoke sharply localizable responses. In pain, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning has been used to show that the anterior gyrus cinguli is an integral component of the pain system. The PET technique suffers from a limitation of both spatial and temporal resolution, which permits only accurate center of mass coordinates of activated regions. Functional mapping of the brain by nuclear magnetic resonance has been achieved with techniques depicting specific brain areas in action during a mental process. These techniques open up an entirely new domain for study and treatment of many problems linked to cognition including many in whom pain is a central feature. The many cerebral cortical areas involved in pain make it unlikely that any ablative procedure will achieve long sustained pain relief. The dual objective of relief of both pain and suffering is probably going to be attained only by activation of pain suppressor mechanisms. This may well require the added knowledge accessible only by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Brain Mapping↗
PubMed1992

[The concept of consciousness from the neuropsychiatric and interdisciplinary viewpoint].

In German neuropsychiatric literature there is an established tradition of viewing the disturbance of consciousness as a leading symptom of the acute, potentially reversible organic psychoses. Following the late H. H. Wieck acute organic psychoses which are characterized by a disturbance of wakefulness (syndromes of somnolence, sopor, coma), have to be distinguished from those with preserved wakefulness, which he called 'Durchgangssyndrom' (e.g. amnesic syndrome with affective lability). These two syndromes have found their way into textbooks and everyday language in medicine as 'disturbance of consciousness'. But neurology and psychiatry are developing in different directions. Furthermore classical phenomenological psychopathology is not a numerative science and consciousness is still under the persisting eliminative verdict of behaviorism. During the last decades consciousness and the psychopathology of acute organic psychoses have been subject to methodological reflection only with the aim of elaborating quantitative scales. In philosophy and psychology there has been a development towards a new impartiality about consciousness during the same time. The biological sciences have acquired more knowledge about cerebral functions with respect to conscious mental processes and between these sciences a fruitful cooperation has evolved from this. The different views of consciousness in relevant neighbouring sciences are looked at from two main points of view. Following classical descriptive tradition are: philosophy (Bunge, Seifert, Hastedt), philosophically oriented psychiatry (Jaspers, Ey), descriptive psychology (Deleay/Pichot), and the post-behaviorist psychology (Hilgard, Mandler, Natsoulas). On the other hand the neurobiologically oriented sciences: clinical neuropsychology (Mesulam, Kolb/Wishaw, Poeck, Stuss, Shallice), neurophysiology (Brain, Goldman-Rakic, Creutzfeldt, Roland), and neurophilosophy (Churchland, Oeser). These more recent developments can contribute to a more actual sight of psychopathology of consciousness in neurology and psychiatry.

Brain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Trust in testimony: how children learn about science and religion.

Many adult beliefs are based on the testimony provided by other people rather than on firsthand observation. Children also learn from other people's testimony. For example, they learn that mental processes depend on the brain, that the earth is spherical, and that hidden bodily organs constrain life and death. Such learning might indicate that other people's testimony simply amplifies children's access to empirical data. However, children's understanding of God's special powers and the afterlife shows that their acceptance of others' testimony extends beyond the empirical domain. Thus, children appear to conceptualize unobservable scientific and religious entities similarly. Nevertheless, some children distinguish between the 2 domains, arguably because a different pattern of discourse surrounds scientific as compared to religious entities.

Adult↗