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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Character, character type, and character organization.

This paper explores the relevance of the concept of character organization for psychoanalysis and argues for its usefulness in preserving what is specific to character. Character organization is viewed as a bridge concept between the observable and the structural, the role of fantasy and object relations in development, and as a convenient way of describing certain global phenomena not easily encompassed by the structural theory or compromise formation.

Character↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Inferring and testing hypotheses of cladistic character dependence by using character compatibility.

The notion that two characters evolve independently is of interest for two reasons. First, theories of biological integration often predict that change in one character requires complementary change in another. Second, character independence is a basic assumption of most phylogenetic inference methods, and dependent characters might confound attempts at phylogenetic inference. Previously proposed tests of correlated character evolution require a model phylogeny and therefore assume that nonphylogenetic correlation has a negligible effect on initial tree construction. This paper develops "tree-free" methods for testing the independence of cladistic characters. These methods can test the character independence model as a hypothesis before phylogeny reconstruction, or can be used simply to test for correlated evolution. We first develop an approach for visualizing suites of correlated characters by using character compatibility. Two characters are compatible if they can be used to construct a tree without homoplasy. The approach is based on the examination of mutual compatibilities between characters. The number of times two characters i and j share compatibility with a third character is calculated, and a pairwise shared compatibility matrix is constructed. From this matrix, an association matrix analogous to a dissimilarity matrix is derived. Eigenvector analyses of this association matrix reveal suites of characters with similar compatibility patterns. A priori character subsets can be tested for significant correlation on these axes. Monte Carlo tests are performed to determine the expected distribution of mutual compatibilities, given various criteria from the original data set. These simulated distributions are then used to test whether the observed amounts of nonphylogenetic correlation in character suites can be attributed to chance alone. We have applied these methods to published morphological data for caecilian amphibians. The analyses corroborate instances of dependent evolution hypothesized by previous workers and also identify novel partitions. Phylogenetic analysis is performed after reducing correlated suites to single characters. The resulting cladogram has greater topological resolution and implies appreciably less change among the remaining characters than does a tree derived from the raw data matrix.

Amphibians↗
PubMed1999

Seed Dispersal as a Maternally Influenced Character: Mechanistic Basis of Maternal Effects and Selection on Maternal Characters in an Annual Plant.

Maternal influences on progeny characters affect phenotypic correlations between characters expressed in maternal and progeny generations and consequently influence evolutionary responses to selection. Net selection on maternally influenced characters depends on selection both on the progeny character and on the maternal characters that influence it. I used seed dispersal in Cakile edentula as a system in which to identify the mechanisms of environmentally mediated maternal effects and to determine how selection on maternal characters alters the adaptive value of dispersal. In C. edentula, maternal morphology responds to conspecific density experienced by the mother. Maternal morphology in turn affects offspring (seed) dispersal and density and thereby offspring morphology and fitness. I estimated the magnitude of density-mediated maternal effects on dispersal and identified their mechanism by characterizing the plasticity of maternal morphology to density. I also measured density-dependent selection on maternal characters that influence dispersal. Maternal plasticity to density was caused by both allometric and nonallometric variation in morphology, and this plasticity resulted in a negative correlation between maternal and progeny density. Such negative maternal effects are expected to retard responses to selection. Maternal morphology influenced maternal fitness, in part through the relationship of fitness to maternal plant size and in part through size-independent fitness effects. Maternal phenotypes that promote dispersal, and thereby increase progeny fitness, were associated with decreased maternal fitness. Selection on dispersal at the level of progeny favors increased dispersal; maternal influences on dispersal, however, not only cause a greatly reduced adaptive value of dispersal but lead to the prediction of a slower response to selection.

dispersal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visual capability to receive character information. Part I: How many characters can we recognize at a glance?

A study was made on the capability to receive character information and the factors restricting it. The study showed that the capability indicated by the memory span was limited by the average number of characters for words that are made up of individual characters, and calculated in terms of information quantity, there was no difference among the individual characters. The differences in memory span, depending on the size of the pattern presented, was negligible. The difference in the way characters were arranged produced the difference in memory span saturation. This phenomenon is explained by the nature of the lateral interference effect working among the adjacent characters.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visual capability to receive character information. Part II: How long do we need to memorize the random characters briefly presented?

The time-related aspect of the capability to receive character information was measured and analysed. As a result, when the presentation time was shorter than one second, ability was almost constant, but when it exceeded one second it increased as the presentation time increased. It was found that when a pattern was presented without limiting the presentation time, there were linear relationships between the number of characters to be memorized and the time required to memorize all the characters correctly in the range of 2 to 6 characters, 7 to 12 and 13 to 16 (or more). These boundaries corresponded well to a unit of memory well known as the magical number 7 plus minus 2. From these results, it was estimated that a grouping mechanism exists even when memorizing characters and that it has a hierarchical structure.

Attention↗
PubMed1981

Stroop phenomena in the Japanese language: the case of ideographic characters (kanji) and syllabic characters (kana).

Utilizing a unique feature of the Japanese languages--that besides two syllabic orthographies, which have identical pronunciations, words with the same pronunciation may also be written in an orthography composed of ideographic characters--we have conducted an investigation of Stroop phenomena. The fact that pronunciations of the three Japanese orthographies are identical means that, if there are any differences between them in the Stroop phenomena observed, we can place the locus of this interference effect in the perceptual process. Five color names were written in the ideographic characters (kanji) and the two syllabic orthographies (hiragana and katakana). Color-congruent cards and incongruent cards were utilized in a color-naming task and a word-reading task. Mean required times for the color-naming condition and the word-reading conditions were compared with those for control conditions. Stroop phenomena were observed in both ideographic and syllabic orthographies. Significant differences in mean required times were observed between the ideographic and syllabic orthographies but not between the two syllabic orthographies. Interferences in comparisons of Japanese orthographies and color patch control conditions were much smaller than in the case of Stroop's (1935) experiment. A "Reverse Stroop Phenomenon" was observed only in the case of kanji on incongruent cards in the word-reading condition. The results support the hypothesis that both ideographic characters (in this case, kanji) and colors are processed in a parallel fashion in the non-dominant right cerebral hemisphere, while syllabic or phonetic characters are processed in the dominant left cerebral hemisphere.

Color Perception↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa on temperament and character as measured by the temperament and character inventory.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a successful treatment method for reducing symptomatology associated with bulimia nervosa (BN). Less is known regarding the impact of CBT on measures of temperament and character across treatment. We explore changes on the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) from pretreatment to 1-year follow-up in a sample of women with bulimia nervosa (BN). Ninety-one women who met DSM-III-R criteria for BN, completed pretreatment measures, and participated in a randomized clinical trial with a core treatment of CBT were available for follow-up at 1 year. Participants were assessed at pretreatment using the TCI as part of a larger assessment battery, and received eight sessions of CBT and eight sessions of exposure with response prevention or relaxation training. The TCI was readministered at the 1-year follow-up point. We compared TCI scores across the two administrations and explored the relation between clinical status at 1 year and TCI scores. Significant decreases in the TCI temperament scale of harm avoidance and increases in the character scale of self-directedness were observed between pretreatment and 1-year follow-up. Observed differences in these scales were independent of change in depression scores as well as other measures of therapeutic change (i.e., binge and purge frequency). We conclude that self-directedness and harm avoidance scores are positively affected by CBT. Higher scores on self-directedness not only predict treatment outcome for BN, but overall self-directedness is improved with CBT in women with BN. These results suggest that the elements of CBT affecting self-directedness may hold promise for enhancing the effectiveness of treatment for BN.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

[Dynamics of population genetics parameters and their statistical during assessment selection for quantitative characters. I. An additive model. One character].

The selection for a single additively inherited quantitative character is studied using computer models of 3 types: 1) all the individuals had the same viability, and the paratypic deviation does not depend on their genotype; 2) differential viability of genotypes is taken into account with respect to a number of heterozygous loci; 3) differential paratypic deviation is estimated, it is introduced like viability in the model 2. Two types of trancation selection, stabilizing and directed, under the selection coefficient of approximately 0.5 are studied. There are studied dynamics of genotypic (omega2gamma) and phenotypic (omega2phi) variances, the heritability index and it estimates (for the correlation progeny-parent--rho; for the regression progeny-parent--b; for half-sibses--v), and the non-equilibrium of a population for the models. The number of generation was 10; the population number in every generation was 200; the number of loci in the main experiment was 10.h2 values were calculated in the progeny before selection (p1, b1, v1) and after selection (p2, b2, v2). It is shown that stabilizing selection results in the formation of balanced gene complexes; the rate of decreasing omega2phi depends on the genetic length of a chromosome region in which genes, determining the character, are located, and not on the number of genes. The distribution of a character under directed selection depends on the type of the model. p2, b2, and v2 values are the worst. The best is the b1 value. It is concluded that the problem of predicting the selection effect using statistical estimates of heretability is connected with the problem of investigation of population heterogeneity and integrating their genetical structure.

Computers↗
PubMed1976

Neurologic soft signs in schizophrenia and character disorders. Organicity in schizophrenia with premorbid asociality and emotionally unstable character disorders.

Previous studies indicated that for two subgroups of patients, schizophrenics with premorbid asociality (SPA) and individuals with emotionally unstable character disorders (EUCD), central nervous system damage may have etiologic significance. It was hypothesized that these two patient groups would also have an increased number of neurologic soft signs. The relationship of neurologic examination, tests of auditory-visual integration, and intelligence quotient, and diagnoses was studied for 350 patients. Tests of reliability and persistence for all observed signs were performed. The EUCD and SPA groups had increased evidence of neurologic soft signs. Differences in patterns of IQ scores also suggest that different forms of brain damage may be present in these two groups. When the two groups were removed from the larger patient sample, those patients with other types of schizophrenia and character disorder did not exhibit evidence of neurologic impairment. This study of neurologic soft signs adds to the validity of considering SPA and EUCD as separate diagnostic entities.

Central Nervous System Diseases↗
PubMed2002

Temperament and character profile of eating disorders: a controlled study with the Temperament and Character Inventory.

OBJECTIVE: The question whether anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are different disorders or the extremes of a psychopathologic spectrum still has no definite answer. A way to face this problem is to examine the personality traits underlying these disorders. METHOD: The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was administered to 141 anorectics (70 Restrictor and 71 Binge-purging), to 102 bulimics, and to 100 controls. The Temperament and Character Inventory main scales are Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence, Persistence, Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence. RESULTS: The personality profiles that emerged are characterized by low Novelty Seeking, high Harm Avoidance, high Persistence, and low Self-Directedness in AN, and by high Novelty Seeking, high Harm Avoidance, and low Self-Directedness in BN. Binge-purging anorectics showed a personality profile midway between anorectics and bulimics. DISCUSSION: The dimensional study of personality through the TCI and its facets seems effective in discriminating the personality traits underlying the different subtypes of Eating Disorders. The hypothesis of an Eating Disorders spectrum and its clinical implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Temperament and character in italian men with anorexia nervosa: a controlled study with the temperament and character inventory.

This study compares personality traits of men and women with anorexia nervosa and matched controls. The Temperament and Character Inventory was used to assess personality traits of 15 male and 50 female anorectics and 28 male and 58 female controls matched for age and education. Male anorectic patients displayed overall lower reward dependence and cooperativeness. Male and female anorectics displayed higher persistence and lower self-directedness than controls. Anorectic men had lower harm avoidance than anorectic women. Discriminating analysis revealed the anorectic male group as the most clearly defined. Anorectic men shared more traits with anorectic women than with male controls. Temperament and character of anorectic men reflect features partly similar to those of women with anorexia. Personal history and discriminating analysis led to interesting inferences about the gender identity of anorectic men. These results should be helpful in directing pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic approaches that consider the specific personality traits of these patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Character in fiction and fiction in character.

This paper examines the concept of fictional character from a psychoanalytic point of view, including its synthesis and the role of reader response. A second section takes up the role of fiction in the development of character.

Character↗
PubMed1990

Facial pain. II. A prospective survey of 1052 patients with a view of: character of the attacks, onset, course, and character of pain.

The material, definition, delimitation, and classification of facial pain, general data, hereditary conditions, and previous diseases have been discussed in a preceding study. According to the character of the attacks the material has been classified into TTN = Typical Trigeminal Neuralgia (1/4), ATN = Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (1/4), and NNFP = Non-neuralgiform Facial Pain (1/2). The typical Trigeminal Neuralgia is a transitory, shooting pain, well defined. The other two groups are less well defined. The patients come to be treated by specialists 1-5 years after the onset of pain. The oral cavity is often perceived as the origin of the pain. A systematic examination shows that demonstrable pathological diseases in the masticatory organs are rarely connected with the pain condition. Dental treatment has provided poor results. Facial pain is a very constant phenomenon which does not- or only to a negligible degree--change over an agelong course. In the present material 8 characters of pain are used: Shooting-cutting, boring, squeezing-pressing, throbbing-hammering, dull, burning-smarting, prickling-sticking, paraesthetic. With the exception of a few cases of apoplexy and herpes zoster there is no pain reaction which can be referred to on an aethilogical basis.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Hydrophobic character of surface regions and total hydrophobicity of four variants of chromosomal class C beta-lactamase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa are identical. Chromatographic comparison of the hydrophobic character of the variants and the effect of focusing buffer composition on the separation of the variants by chromatofocusing with internal and external pH gradients.

The hydrophobic character of class C beta-lactamase molecular variants from Pseudomonas aeruginosa was compared by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and reversed-phase liquid chromatography, respectively. Separation of the variants by hydrophobic interaction chromatography was not achieved by modifying salt and pH of mobile phases. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography of the variants resulted in almost identical retention times. The results showed that the hydrophobic character of surface regions as well as total hydrophobicity of the variants are identical. The resolving power of external, internal and gradient chromatofocusing of the variants on strong and weak anion exchangers using low-molecular-mass buffers was compared to that of commercial ampholytes and showed no difference in separation pattern of the variants. Comparisons of variant isoelectric point (pI) values determined by chromatofocusing and isoelectric focusing showed that pI values determined by gradient chromatofocusing were most similar to the pI values determined by isoelectric focusing.

Buffers↗
PubMed1994

The echinoderm immune system. Characters shared with vertebrate immune systems and characters arising later in deuterostome phylogeny.

In summary, the characters of the echinoderm immune system that we review here can be considered to illuminate the baseline nonadaptive immune systems that were our original deuterostome heritage. We still retain--and greatly rely upon--similarly functioning, nonadaptive cellular defense systems. It is worth stressing that sea urchins are long lived, normally healthy animals that display remarkable abilities to heal wounds and combat major infections. From an external point of view, their immune systems obviously work very well. Thus, their cellular defense systems are extremely sensitive, and they respond rapidly to minor perturbations, all without any specific adaptive capabilities. These systems probably function through the transduction of signals conveying information on injury and infection, just as do the equivalent systems that underlie and back up our own adaptive immune systems, and that provide the initial series of defenses against pathogenic invasions. Many extremely interesting questions remain regarding the evolution of the deuterostome immune response. Are the echinoderm and tunicate systems the same, or have the protochordates augmented the basic phagocyte system with an as yet unidentified chordate-like character? Do the jawless fishes produce Igs that would make them similar to the sharks, or are they vertebrates without an Ig system that essentially rely on an invertebrate-like, nonspecific, activated phagocyte type of immune system? How do sharks regulate their immune system without T cells and MHC class I? How do they avoid producing autoantibodies? Future research will not only answer these questions, but those answers will also be enlightening with regard to the origins of the mammalian immune system in which ancient functions and subsystems remain.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Establishing character correspondence for sensory organ traits in flies: sensory organ development provides insight for reconstructing character evolution.

In Diptera and in other insects sensory organ patterns play an important role in the construction of phylogenies based on morphological characters. In this paper I explore the developmental basis for sensory organ pattern transformations between and within species. Knowledge of the properties of sensory organ development provides a foundation to judge the correspondence relationships between sensory organs. This is used to explore what components of notum bristle patterns are equivalent across the Schizophora. By investigating patterning processes in leg development, and their conservation across holometabolous insects, I show ways of relating specialised leg vestiture between species. Sensory organ patterns on the legs are diversified under homeotic gene control, potentially adding patterns of homeotic variation between legs to the list of informative traits for phylogenetic analysis. Correspondence relationships between wing and haltere sensory organ fields are resolved by exploring homeotic gene action in detail.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Contribution towards the study of the average visual-evoked response; non-gaussian character of spontaneous electroencephalographic activity; non-independence of noise and signal; possible non-stationary character of evoked response (author's transl)].

The succession of amplitudes constituting spontaneous electroencephalographic activity cannot be regarded as a strictly normal distribution. Spontaneous activity and the evoked response are not independent. The signal (evoked response)is, in some cases, non-stationary. The average visual-evoked response comprises several successive temporal fragments of which the stationary character varies. This variability of the average visual-evoked response argues in favour of the complexity of its genesis.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[Directed character of genetic variation during long-term selection of Drosophila melanogaster strains for adaptively important characters].

Related fly strains that were selected for differences in reproductive function for about 700 generations were studied. The low-active (LA) strain differs from other related and highly active strains of interest at a set of characters. Qualitative differences in the spectrum of viability mutations are retained in strains selected in opposite directions. Low-active strains carry a great number of deleterious mutations. Such mutations are rare in the related highly active strains. Moreover, about 50% of chromosomes in the highly active strains carry supervital mutations, which increase viability. Recombination analysis showed the presence of at least several viability mutations in each chromosome of the strains studied. Unlike highly active strains, the low-active ones are characterized by an extremely high spontaneous mutation rate. The conservation of genetic heterogeneity observed in long-term selected strains, as well as the high mutation rate, must be connected with regular changes in the spectrum of retrotransposons (MDG1, MDG3) and hobo elements characteristic of the strains studied. A special crossing system that induces a sharp increase in LA induction potential in the H-E system of hybrid dysgenesis was developed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗