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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↗
PubMed2005

Neural correlates of symbolic and non-symbolic arithmetic.

Recent evidence suggests that areas in and around the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) represent magnitude in a stimulus-independent format. However, it has not been established whether the same is true for mental arithmetic or whether activation for higher level numerical processing diverges as a function of stimulus format. We addressed this question in a functional imaging study by presenting participants with simple addition problems using both symbolic (Arabic numerals) and non-symbolic (arrays of dots) stimuli. Conjunction analysis revealed common neural substrates for symbolic and non-symbolic addition in the anterior IPS bilaterally, left posterior IPS, medial frontal gyrus and left precentral gyrus. Right parietal and frontal cortex showed greater activation for non-symbolic addition. Our results demonstrate that mental arithmetic, studied using addition problems, is processed within the IPS independent of stimulus form. Additionally we examined whether exact and approximate addition conditions activated different neural substrates as a function of stimulus format. We did not find any differences between exact and approximate addition using symbolic and non-symbolic stimuli. This could be due to the inability of the participants to suppress exact calculation for single-digit addition problems. In contrast to recent findings, we found no significant activation for exact addition condition in left, language-related areas.

Adult↗
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↗
PubMed2007

Priming reveals differential coding of symbolic and non-symbolic quantities.

Number processing is characterized by the distance and the size effect, but symbolic numbers exhibit smaller effects than non-symbolic numerosities. The difference between symbolic and non-symbolic processing can either be explained by a different kind of underlying representation or by parametric differences within the same type of underlying representation. We performed a primed naming study to investigate this issue. Prime and target format were manipulated (digits or collections of dots) as well as the numerical distance between prime and target value. Qualitatively different priming patterns were observed for the two formats, showing that the underlying representations differed in kind: Digits activated mental number representations of the place coding type, while collections of dots activated number representations of the summation coding type.

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↗
PubMed2005

Symbols and symbolization in clinical practice and in Elisabeth Marton's film My Name was Sabina Spielrein.

If symbolization can be defined, in a general way, as the operation of substitution by which something can represent something else for someone, the Freudian discovery of the unconscious introduced the idea of a process of work whereby the subject is differentiated from the object. As a consequence, the vicissitudes of symbolization are related to the vicissitudes of the drive. The clinical case of a psychotic patient treated in individual psychoanalytic psychodrama shows the possibility of overcoming violence and destructivity thanks to the work of representation and symbolization of the denied and split psychic movements. Thanks to the third party function of the leader and of the analytic setting, the individual psychoanalytical psychodrama favours psychic change. Elisabeth Marton's film illustrates this issue in so far as the destructive passion between Sabina Spielrein and Jung was partly transformed into a creative work with Freud's role as a third party.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

Thirty-second interval patterns for WAIS-III Digit Symbol and Symbol Search.

For Digit Symbol-Coding (CD) and Symbol Search (SS) we tested the hypothesis that young adults (44 males, 60 females) would start out quickly and demonstrate steady increases in symbols/items completed across each of four 30-s intervals. The average number of CD symbols was 23.19 (S.D.=3.46) for 0-30s, 21.11 (S.D.=3.75) for 30-60 s, 21.98 (S.D.=3.70) for 60-90 s, and 22.46 (S.D.=3.55) for 90-120 s. For SS, the average number of items was 11.91 (S.D.=1.91) for 0-30s, 9.96 (S.D.=1.92) for 30-60s, 9.95 (S.D.=1.53) for 60-90 s, and 9.98 (S.D.=2.46) for 90-120 s. The hypothesis was not supported for either subtest. Cluster analysis revealed two CD groups with similar patterns which differed only in level of performance. On SS, cluster analysis identified two groups which differed in level of performance and pattern across the four 30-s intervals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Basic numerical skills in children with mathematics learning disabilities: a comparison of symbolic vs non-symbolic number magnitude processing.

Forty-five children with mathematics learning disabilities, with and without comorbid reading disabilities, were compared to 45 normally achieving peers in tasks assessing basic numerical skills. Children with mathematics disabilities were only impaired when comparing Arabic digits (i.e., symbolic number magnitude) but not when comparing collections (i.e., non-symbolic number magnitude). Moreover, they automatically processed number magnitude when comparing the physical size of Arabic digits in an Stroop paradigm adapted for processing speed differences. Finally, no evidence was found for differential patterns of performance between MD and MD/RD children in these tasks. These findings suggest that children with mathematics learning disabilities have difficulty in accessing number magnitude from symbols rather than in processing numerosity per se.

Analysis of Variance↗
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↗