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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Comparison of error rates and performance on Wechsler's Coding and Digit Symbol subtests and the Symbol-Symbol test for children and adults.

Performance on Digit Symbol, Coding, and similar symbol-substitution tests are known to be influenced by a wide variety of reversible and nonreversible organic syndromes and learning disabilities. Recently, questions regarding the interchangeability of different symbol-substitution tests have been raised. The present study compared the performance, i.e., number of substitutions completed accurately and number of errors, of 37 adults, 32 adolescents, and 45 children on the Wechsler symbol-substitution tests of Digit Symbol and Coding with their performance on the recently designed Symbol-Symbol test. Analysis indicated that, while Symbol-Symbol performance is highly correlated with Wechsler scores on symbol-substitution tests, significant differences in error rates and speed of performance suggest that the Symbol-Symbol test cannot be considered an equivalent symbol-substitution test. Further investigation of the properties and the potential uses of the Symbol-Symbol test with clinical populations must be undertaken.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Safety symbol comprehension: effects of symbol type, familiarity, and age.

A new procedure for evaluating symbol comprehension, the phrase generation procedure, was assessed with 52 younger and 52 older adults. Participants generated as many phrases as came to mind when viewing 40 different safety symbols (hazard alerting, mandatory action, prohibition, and information symbols). Symbol familiarity was also assessed. Comprehension rates for both groups were lower than the 85% level recommended by the American National Standards Institute. Moreover, older participants' comprehension was significantly worse than younger participants', and the older adults also generated significantly fewer phrases. Generally, prohibition symbols were comprehended best and hazard alerting symbols worst. In addition, symbol familiarity was positively correlated with symbol comprehension. These findings indicate that important safety information depicted on signs and household products may be misunderstood if presented in symbolic form. Furthermore, certain types of symbols may be better understood (e.g., prohibition symbols) than other types (e.g., hazard alerting symbols) by both younger and older individuals. These findings signify the utility of the phrase generation procedure as a method for evaluating symbol comprehension, particularly when it is not possible or desirable to provide contextual information. Actual or potential applications of this research include using the phrase generation approach to identify poorly comprehended symbols, including identification of critical confusions that may arise when processing symbolic information.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

From illness to symbol and symbol to illness.

This paper explores two aspects of the relationship between illness and social symbols: one in which illnesses become symbols; the other, in which symbols become implicated in processes that eventuate in illness. Illness is first discussed as a symbol of social beliefs, attitudes, norms, values, and other social phenomena conceptualized in relation to them. This symbolization is analyzed as it relates to various dimensions of illness that lend themselves to figurative thinking. The paper then turns to processes through which social symbols may generate illness. In this regard, ways in which social symbols may attract people to behavior that puts their health at risk are discussed. The paper concludes with an analysis of how the development of illness may be affected by the relationship between social symbols and somatization.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed2002

Symbolic attitude and reverie: problems of symbolization in children and adolescents.

In comparison to the 1970s and 1980s, we now treat more children and adolescents who, because they have had traumatic experiences of violence, child abuse, deprivation or chronic physical illness, are not able to adequately use their symbolizing function. The question is which qualities and which analytical attitude we should and can offer in analysis to help a child regain his or her capacity to symbolize, irrespective of how poorly developed or blocked this capacity may be. In contrast to Jung and some Jungians, the author argues that although the transcendent function is a 'natural process' and hence archetypally grounded as Jung maintained, the transcendent function does not work spontaneously. Rather it requires a matrix based on the child's earliest relationship, which can later be re-enacted in treatment. Jung's general concept of a 'symbolic attitude' can be complemented and focused in a specific way through the use of Bion's concept of 'reverie', which contributes in a fundamental way to symbol formation within the transference/countertransference. This idea is illustrated by clinical material from a nine-year-old boy who suffered from a severe congenital intestinal disease and was blocked in his capacity to symbolize. From the perspective of treatment technique, the author shows how the drawing of 'comic book' narratives in a reciprocal exchange was brought into the treatment. The drawings evolved in a way that he understood as a modified form of active imagination with children. The drawing process helped the boy gradually to develop a symbolic space in the therapy and to contain a psychic space in his mind.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Symbolic processes in the implementation of technological change: a symbolic interactionist study of work computerization.

This study examined the symbolic processes involved in the computerization of work in a health maintenance organization. Guided by symbolic interaction as a methodological framework, this inductive study used the methods of participant observation and in-depth interviewing for gathering data. It documents the multiple symbols associated with computerization in the organization and discusses local interpretations of those symbolic realities. It also explores the influence of this symbolism on the computerization process.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Comparability of WAIS--R Digit Symbol and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test.

100 persons referred for neuropsychological evaluation were administered both the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and the WAIS--R Digit Symbol subtest. The two sets of scores correlated 0.85, but standard scores derived from the Symbol Digit Modalities Test were significantly lower than standard scores based on Digit Symbol. The mean score on the former for these subjects is the equivalent of 2 1/2 to 3 WAIS--R age-scaled score points lower than the respective Digit Symbol mean.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

What are symbols symbols of? Situated action, mythological bootstrapping and the emergence of the Self.

This paper addresses the question of how symbols should be understood in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis. The point of view examined focuses on the recent turn to more cognitive and developmental models in both disciplines and briefly reviews and critiques the evolutionary and cognitive arguments. The paper then presents an argument based on dynamic systems theory in which no pre-existing template or structure for either mind or behaviour is assumed. Within the dynamic systems model the Self is viewed as an emergent phenomenon deriving from the dynamic patterns existing in a complex system that includes the physiological characteristics of the infant, the intentional attributions of the caregiver and the cultural or symbolic resources that constitute the environment. The symbol can then be seen as a discrete, and in important ways an autonomous, element in the dynamic system. Conclusions are drawn for further research into the nature of the symbol with implications for both theory and practice in analytical psychology and psychoanalysis.

Ego↗
PubMed1999

Measuring symbol and icon characteristics: norms for concreteness, complexity, meaningfulness, familiarity, and semantic distance for 239 symbols.

This paper provides rating norms for a set of symbols and icons selected from a wide variety of sources. These ratings enable the effects of symbol characteristics on user performance to be systematically investigated. The symbol characteristics that have been quantified are considered to be of central relevance to symbol usability research and include concreteness, complexity, meaningfulness, familiarity, and semantic distance. The interrelationships between each of these dimensions is examined and the importance of using normative ratings for experimental research is discussed.

Communication↗
PubMed2004

From symbols to sounds: visual symbolic information activates sound representations.

Expectations on forthcoming sounds can speed up responding to environmental changes and can, thus, be a basis for successful adaptation. The present study investigated event-related brain potential (ERP) effects in situations where particular sounds were predicted on the basis of preceding visual information. Subjects had to map scorelike visual symbols to corresponding sounds. The sounds could be either congruent or occasionally incongruent with the corresponding symbol. When the auditory stimulation was incongruent with the visual information, a brain response was elicited starting as early as about 100 ms from the onset of the auditory stimulus. It had a bilateral frontal distribution and a polarity inversion at the mastoids compatible with the assumption of sources in auditory cortex. These results suggest that the auditory system can establish a representation of an expected stimulus on the basis of visual symbolic information.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1993

Symbolic gesture versus word: is there a modality advantage for onset of symbol use?

Researchers have hypothesized in the past that children learning sign languages develop signs at an earlier age than is typically expected for vocal words. This assumption, however, has recently been questioned on the grounds that researchers have not always guaranteed that words and gestures are being used in a comparable fashion. The present study was designed to shed light on this controversy by comparing the onset of symbolic use of signs and words in a group of 22 hearing children exposed to symbolic gestures from 11 months onward. Bimonthly interviews emphasizing contexts of use of gestures and vocal words indicated a smaller modality difference than early research had predicted, thus providing support for the hypothesis that strides in cognitive abilities such as memory, categorization, and symbolization underlie this milestone in both modalities. At the same time, however, the data also indicated that the small difference in onset time was reliable, thus providing support for the notion that the gestural modality is, in fact, easier for many infants to master once the requisite cognitive skills are in place.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2000

Walking the en-abling/dis-abling symbolic tightrope: toward a constitutive, dialectical view of disability symbolism.

In his essay, 'From handicap to disability: language use and cultural meaning in the United States', Patrick J. Devlieger raises some important and intriguing claims about the symbolic nature of the terms 'handicap' and 'disability'. As communication scholars, we applaud the attention Devlieger devotes to issues that fit comfortably under the general heading of the symbolic construction of health. In this response, we wish to highlight some contributions Devlieger makes and, hopefully, advance this conversation by offering some important extensions of the issues raised in his essay.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed2003

NSL a Neuro-Symbolic Language for a Neuro-Symbolic Processor (NSP).

A Neuro-Symbolic Language for monotonic and non-monotonic parallel logical inference by means of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is presented. Both the language and its compiler have been designed and implemented in order to translate the neural representation of a given problem into a VHDL software, which in turn can set devices such as FPGA. The result of this operation leads to an electronic circuit that we call NSP (Neuro-Symbolic Processor).

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1991

[Man as a symbolic animal--symptoms as symbolic interaction].

This is an article about views of human nature. In western medicine man is conceived mainly as a biological being, a mammal. Philosophical-ontological questions about man's nature are answered implicitly in clinical practice. They are not, however, reflected explicitly. In this article it is argued that symptoms are primarily human experience. To understand these experiences and their expressions, it is necessary to understand man as an "animal symbolicum", a term introduced by the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer. Language is the most specific expression of man's symbolic activities, and symptoms are expressed verbally. Speech is part of social interaction--we, as human beings, have "the power of speech". This way of thinking is illustrated by clinical examples, and an alternative medical practice, homeopathy, is analyzed as a special means of symbolic interaction.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

[symbol: see text] Seretide and [symbol: see text] Symbicort in asthma management.

Maintenance treatment for mild asthma frequently comprises both a regular inhaled corticosteroid and an 'as required' inhaled short-acting beta 2-agonist. Where such treatment fails, additional regular treatment with an inhaled long-acting beta 2-agonist is increasingly recommended. In the UK, combination inhalers containing salmeterol + fluticasone ([symbol: see text] Seretide--Allen & Hanburys) or formoterol + budesonide ([symbol: see text] Symbicort--AstraZeneca) are licensed for use either in "patients not adequately controlled with inhaled corticosteroids and 'as needed' inhaled short-acting beta 2-agonists" or in "patients already adequately controlled on both inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta 2-agonists". Here we review the efficacy of Seretide and Symbicort and discuss their place in asthma management.

Adolescent↗