In a task requiring comparisons between imaged faces, subjects with vivid visual imagery (by self-report) performed less well than subjects with less vivid imagery. Subjects were asked to image pairs of famous faces and then to make several comparative judgements using this image (e.g., who has a higher forehead, more closely set eyes, etc.); imagery vividness was assessed at the conclusion of the task. Imagery vividness was negatively correlated with accuracy, but positively correlated with confidence in these judgements.
This study is a third-year (34 months) follow-up investigation of the socioemotional behaviours of preterm and fullterm children previously seen at four points in time during the first two years of life. A total of 42 mother/ child pairs were seen for videotaped mother/child and child/peer play sessions. The tapes were coded on a second-to-second basis using Izard's MAX facial affect coding system and a vocal affect coding system. Data analysis focused on the contribution of the individual difference variables of gender, birth status, attachment classification, and maternal contingency behaviour, to children's expressive development. Expressive patterns in the third year were also compared with those obtained during the children's second year. Results indicated that contrary to developmental theory, facial expressivity does not decrease, at least during this developmental period, and moreover, that vocal affective expression increases. It is suggested that what children learn in development, is greater flexibility in the use of different systems to communicate affect, and greater facility in modulating expressivity according to context. Birth status was found to continue to affect the nature of affective development into the third year; preterm children were less vocally expressive than their fullterm counterparts, and preterm females showed greater facial negativity. Few other gender differences in expressivity were apparent, although mothers treated their children differentially. Moderate maternal contingency in infancy was related to greater vocal affectivity in children. Insecure attachment was associated with a degree of apparent tension and affective disharmony.
If one understands the projective hypothesis most simply as "the active structuring of the world according to inner requirements and outer demands" (Schafer, 1954, p. 37), then it is evident that a patient's response to an ostensibly neuropsychological measure can provide significant insights beyond the typical neurocognitive yield. Indeed, the more ambiguous the instructions or stimuli, the greater the potential for projective elements to be introduced. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test offers such an opportunity, particularly in its more recent computerized version. In this paper, a clinical vignette illuminates how bringing a psychoanalytic mindset to the administration and interpretation of this widely used measure can enrich its diagnostic utility. A distinction is made between a parameter (as applied to psychological testing) and testing the limits, with appreciation for how both can lead to vivid clinical moments that inform diagnostic questions-a "something more." Such interventions maintain the essence of a standardized administration without allowing technical rigidity to obscure deeper contact with, and understanding of, the patient.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.