A recurrent theme that is addressed in psychotherapies is the client’s conflicting emotions. This article discusses discursive practices of working on conflicting emotions during psychodynamic psychotherapy. We focus on a phenomenon that we refer to as a ‘delayed response’ and analyze the client’s uses of interactional means, such as a display of negative experience, to invite affiliation or empathy from the therapist. The therapist, however, does not take a turn in the first possible place after the client’s turn. Recurrently, the (...) therapist’s silence is followed by the client’s new turn that backs down from the emotional experience under discussion. After these retractions, the therapists respond with a turn that is responsive both to the retraction and to the initial display of negative experience that occurred prior to it. We argue that the timing of the therapist’s response in these sequences is in the service of psychotherapeutic work on conflicting emotions. (shrink)

This article discusses a less-studied aspect of repair sequences in conversation, that is, their exit phases. It will be argued that while the most common way of exiting is a resumption of the main activity straight after requested repair, sometimes specific receipt objects are also needed. The focus of the article is on the use of these repair receipts. Two types of motivation for using them as exit devices are discussed: prolongation of the repair sequence and the repairers’ critical stance (...) toward the repair initiation. The article will also consider the use of different change-of-state tokens as repair receipts in Finnish conversation. It will be argued that a claim of now-understanding is the repair receipt proper, enabling sequence closure and resumption of the main activity, while news receipts target the newsworthiness of the information provided in the repair turn, enabling sequence expansion. (shrink)

The semantic fluency task is a widely used clinical tool in the diagnostic process of Alzheimer's disease. The task requires efficient mapping of the semantic space to produce as many items as possible within a semantic category. We examined whether healthy volunteers and patients with early Alzheimer's disease take advantage of and travel in the semantic space differently. With focus on the animal fluency task, we sought to emulate the detailed structure of the multidimensional semantic space by utilizing word2vec-method from (...) the natural language processing domain. To render the resulting multidimensional semantic space visually comprehensible, we applied a dimensionality reduction algorithm, which enabled a straightforward division of the semantic space into sub-categories. Moving in semantic space was quantified with the number of items created, sub-categories visited, and switches and returns to these sub-categories. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to predict the diagnostic group with these independent variables. We found that returning to a sub-category provided additional information, besides the number of words produced in the task, to differentiate patients with Alzheimer's dementia from both amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment patients and healthy controls. The results suggest that the frequency of returning to a sub-category may serve as an additional aid for clinicians in diagnosing early Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, our results imply that the combination of word2vec and subsequent t-SNE-visualization may offer a valuable tool for examining the semantic space and its sub-categories. (shrink)

The first decade of event-related potential (ERP) research had established that the most consistent correlates of the onset of visual consciousness are the early visual awareness negativity (VAN), a posterior negative component in the N2 time range, and the late positivity (LP), an anterior positive component in the P3 time range. Two earlier extensive reviews ten years ago had concluded that VAN is the earliest and most reliable correlate of visual phenomenal consciousness, whereas LP probably reflects later processes associated with (...) reflective/access consciousness. This article provides an update to those earlier reviews. ERP and MEG studies that have appeared since 2010 and directly compared ERPs between aware and unaware conditions are reviewed, and important new developments in the field are discussed. The result corroborates VAN as the earliest and most consistent signature of visual phenomenal consciousness, and casts further doubt on LP as an ERP correlate of phenomenal consciousness. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that Samuel Pufendorf's works on natural law contain a sentimentalist theory of morality that is Smithian in its moral psychology. Pufendorf's account of how ordinary people make moral judgements and come to act sociably is surprisingly similar to Smith's. Both thinkers maintain that the human desire for esteem, manifested by resentment and gratitude, informs people of the content of central moral norms and can motivate them to act accordingly. Finally, we suggest that given Pufendorf's theory (...) of socially imposed moral entities, he has all the resources for a sentimentalist theory of morality. (shrink)

To study whether the distinction between introspective and non-introspective states of mind is an empirical reality or merely a conceptual distinction, we measured event-related potentials elicited in introspective and non-introspective instruction conditions while the observers were trying to detect the presence of a masked stimulus. The ERPs indicated measurable differences related to introspection in both preconscious and conscious processes. Our data support the hypothesis that introspective states empirically differ from non-introspective states.

In order to study whether there exist a period of activity in the human early visual cortex that contributes exclusively to visual awareness, we applied transcranial magnetic stimulation over the early visual cortex and measured subjective visual awareness during visual forced-choice symbol or orientation discrimination tasks. TMS produced one dip in awareness 60–120 ms after stimulus onset, while forced-choice orientation discrimination was suppressed between 60 and 90 ms and symbol discrimination between 60 and 120 ms. Thus, a time window specific (...) to visual awareness was found only in the orientation condition at 120 ms. The results imply that both conscious and unconscious perception depend on activity in early visual areas. On the basis of previous estimates of neural processing speed, we suggest that the late part of the activity period most likely involve local extrastriate–striate interactions which provide the contents for visual awareness but are not themselves sufficient for awareness to arise. (shrink)

Visual feature binding has been suggested to depend on reentrant processing. We addressed the relationship between binding, reentry, and visual awareness by asking the participants to discriminate the color and orientation of a colored bar and to report their phenomenal awareness of the target features. The success of reentry was manipulated with object substitution masking and backward masking. The results showed that late reentrant processes are necessary for successful binding but not for phenomenal awareness of the bound features. Binding errors (...) were accompanied by phenomenal awareness of the misbound feature conjunctions, demonstrating that they were experienced as real properties of the stimuli . Our results suggest that early preattentive binding and local recurrent processing enable features to reach phenomenal awareness, while later attention-related reentrant iterations modulate the way in which the features are bound and experienced in awareness. (shrink)

We are currently experiencing a planetary crisis that will lead, if worst comes to worst, to the end of the entire world as we know it. Several feminist scholars have suggested that if the Earth is to stay livable for humans and nonhumans alike, the ways in which many human beings – particularly in the wealthy parts of the world, infested with Eurocentrism, colonialism, neoliberalism, and capitalism – inhabit this planet requires radical, ethical, and political transformation. In this article, we (...) propose that feminist theory, particularly feminist posthumanities, and Black feminist and decolonial thought, together with creative practices such as writing, have much to contribute to transformative planetary activism that imagines different and other kinds of worlds and futures based on an ethical consideration of nonhuman others and collective caring for the planet. (shrink)

There are conflicting views concerning the electrophysiological correlates of visual consciousness. Whereas one view considers a relatively late positive deflection as a primary correlate of consciousness, another model links consciousness with earlier negativity . The present experiment utilized metacontrast masking in investigating the electrophysiological correlates of visual consciousness. The participants were presented with target-mask sequences in three stimulus onset asynchronies. The target stimuli were followed by either a metacontrast mask or a similar-looking, but ineffective pseudomask. The results showed that the (...) first deflection that correlated with target visibility was VAN which was followed by LP. We argue that the VAN is the primary correlate target visibility, while the LP reflects later, postperceptual processing stages. (shrink)

Background: We define compassion as an enduring disposition that centers upon empathetic concern for another person's suffering and the motivation to act to alleviate it. The contribution of specific candidate genes to the development of dispositional compassion for others is currently unknown. We examine candidate genes in the oxytocin and dopamine signaling pathways.Methods: In a 32-year follow-up of the Young Finns Study, we examined with multiple indicators latent growth curve modeling the molecular genetic underpinnings of dispositional compassion for others across (...) the life span. We selected five single nucleotide polymorphisms whose functions are known in humans: rs2268498, rs3796863, rs1800497, rs4680, and rs1611115. Compassion was measured with Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory on three repeated observations spanning 15 years. Differences between gender were tested.Results: We did not find an effect of the five SNPs in oxytocin and dopamine pathway genes on the initial levels of dispositional compassion for others. Individuals who carry one or two copies of the T-allele of DBH rs1611115, however, tend to increase faster in compassion over time than those homozygotes for the C-allele, b = 0.063. This effect was largely driven by male participants, 0.206, and was not significant in female participants when analyzed separately.Conclusions: Men who are known to have, on average, lower compassion than women seem to reduce this difference over time if they carry the T-allele of DBH rs1611115. The direction of the association indicates that dopamine signaling activity rather than overall dopamine levels might drive the development of compassion. (shrink)

This article describes how ethical guidelines have been applied while interviewing psychiatric patients who were recovering from mental illness, especially from psychosis, to allow nurses to understand these patients’ experiences. Because psychiatric patients are vulnerable, their participation in research involves ethical dilemmas, such as voluntary consent, legal capacity to consent, freedom of choice, and sufficient knowledge and comprehension. The first part of this article describes the most important ethical guidelines concerning human research. These have been published by different organizations, departments, (...) committees and commissions for the purpose of protecting human rights and dignity whenever research participants are vulnerable persons or their capacity to consent is limited. At present, however, no special regulations govern research involving adults who have been diagnosed with a condition characterized by mental impairment. Furthermore, a relatively small body of research has documented the effects of various disorders on decision-making capacity per se. One basic moral and policy question is whether these individuals should ever be involved in research. The second part of this article concentrates on how the investigator made sure that participating patients had understood their role in this particular piece of nursing research. During the interviews the investigator noticed that some ethical dilemmas required further study and debate because of the lack of consensus on the proposed regulatory provisions on research involving institutionalized persons and their ability to make an informed and voluntary decision. (shrink)

This article describes how ethical guidelines have been applied while interviewing psychiatric patients who were recovering from mental illness, especially from psychosis, to allow nurses to understand these patients’ experiences. Because psychiatric patients are vulnerable, their participation in research involves ethical dilemmas, such as voluntary consent, legal capacity to consent, freedom of choice, and sufficient knowledge and comprehension. The first part of this article describes the most important ethical guidelines concerning human research. These have been published by different organizations, departments, (...) committees and commissions for the purpose of protecting human rights and dignity whenever research participants are vulnerable persons or their capacity to consent is limited. At present, however, no special regulations govern research involving adults who have been diagnosed with a condition characterized by mental impairment. Furthermore, a relatively small body of research has documented the effects of various disorders (e.g. psychiatric conditions) on decision-making capacity per se. One basic moral and policy question is whether these individuals should ever be involved in research. The second part of this article concentrates on how the investigator made sure that participating patients had understood their role in this particular piece of nursing research. During the interviews the investigator noticed that some ethical dilemmas required further study and debate because of the lack of consensus on the proposed regulatory provisions on research involving institutionalized persons and their ability to make an informed and voluntary decision. (shrink)

Event-related potential studies have attempted to discover the processes that underlie conscious visual perception by contrasting ERPs produced by stimuli that are consciously perceived with those that are not. Variability of the proposed ERP correlates of consciousness is considerable: the earliest proposed ERP correlate of consciousness coincides with sensory processes and the last one marks postperceptual processes. A negative difference wave called visual awareness negativity , typically observed around 200 ms after stimulus onset in occipitotemporal sites, gains strong support for (...) reflecting the processes that correlate with, and possibly enable, aware visual perception. Research suggests that the early parts of conscious processing can proceed independently of top-down attention, although top-down attention may modulate visual processing even before consciousness. Evidence implies that the contents of consciousness are provided by interactions in the ventral stream, but indispensable contributions from dorsal regions influence already low-level visual responses. (shrink)

The concepts of good governance and also good administration have increased in popularity over recent years. They have found a convincing conceptual niche on a European and global level. This is also visible in scholarly activity; from the early 1990s on, there has been a wave of good governance talk and consequently, research and criticism. In this article the concepts of good governance and good administration are discussed from a discursive standpoint. The main claim is that the concepts are over-inclusive (...) and can signify a plethora of meanings. Consequently, the mechanisms of this indeterminacy are studied; the criteria according to which good governance and administration are defined vary. This is exemplified in the contexts of the EU and the Council of Europe. Accordingly, different “good-nesses” can contradict each other. It is suggested that the different discourses or vocabularies of good governance and good administration form closed systems of meaning which identify only claims which adhere to their own rationality. Furthermore, these different meanings enable different forms of exercising societal power. The approach is inspired by systems theoretical reading of discourses. (shrink)

This article offers the first critical edition of a cycle of epigrams found in the margins of six manuscripts of Niketas Choniates’ History. This paper also proposes the attribution of the poems to Ephraim of Ainos, an author mainly known for his verse chronicle, which has Niketas Choniates as a source. Our poems occur in a group of manuscripts which we already knew Ephraim had used for his chronicle. Many formal parallels between the epigrams and the chronicle point to the (...) same author and a book epigram connects one important manuscript with the city of Ainos. This paper reassesses the manuscript tradition of the epigrams with special emphasis on the marginalia of Niketas Choniates. The critical text of the poems is accompanied by two apparatuses and an English translation. The edition is preceded by some methodological considerations and followed by two appendices and three indices. (shrink)

Hesiod’s fable of the hawk and the nightingale, addressed to kings, notoriously has no moral. Its depiction of a hawk carrying off a nightingale, preaching the futility of either resistance or pleading, appears to communicate the counsel, commonly designated as “Machiavellian,” that a ruler must know how to imitate a beast as well as a man. Such instruction—which advises that unjust actions are justifiable and necessary for a ruler—is clearly at odds with Hesiod’s explicit exhortations to his brother Perses to (...) work hard and avoid hubris, and his caution that unjust kings or lords will be punished by Zeus. I argue that Hesiod’s addressing the fable to kings “who themselves have understanding” explains the lack of a moral. To substantiate my claim I compare Hesiod’s and Machiavelli’s ranking of intellects, and illuminate Hesiod’s position with particular reference to and comparison with Machiavelli’s Prince, and examples drawn from the Old Testament and Old Irish law. (shrink)

Departing from the fact that László Moholy-Nagy’s Von Material zu Architektur (1929), had been an important source of inspiration for Alvar Aalto, this article examines the affinities between László Moholy-Nagy and Alvar Aalto’s intellectual positions. The article places emphasis on two particular ideas: how Aalto and Moholy-Nagy conceived the connection of biology with standardization and technology and its relationship to light and perception. Special attention is paid to the notions of “flexible standardisation” and rationalisation in Aalto’s thought, as well as (...) to his belief that nature and standardization should be conceived are closely interconnected. In regard to their shared intellectual development, the article sheds light on the first encounters of the two men including: their meeting at the second Congrès International de l’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in 1929; the June 1931 Finish meeting of Aino Marsio-Aalto, Alvar Aalto, Moholy-Nagy and Ellen Frank; the June 1931 exchanges between Aalto and Moholy-Nagy during the inner circle CIAM meeting in Berlin; and the common stay of the Aaltos and Moholy-Nagy in London in 1933 are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on Aalto’s “The Reconstruction of Europe is the Key Problem for the Architecture of Our Time”, in which he argued that standardization in architecture should draw upon biological models. (shrink)

Antiphon's speech on the murder of Herodes has been variously dated by several scholars, but all seem to agree that it was delivered a good many years after the revolt and recapture of Mytilene. According to this opinion the speaker in § 74 declares himself too young to know much of what happened in those days. Before going into this more carefully, it seems necessary to visualize the situation of the accused man. In order to achieve this the best we (...) can do is to follow his own words in the Sirjyrjcris, §§ 20–24: ‘I travelled from Mytilene on the same ship as the lost man; we were on our journey to Ainos, I to see my father—he happened to be there at that time—he in order to sell some slaves to Thracian natives. These natives, who were to pay the ransom, and the slaves were on board too.—All this I will prove by witnesses.—As we, however, met with stormy weather, we were compelled to put in to a harbour in the territory of Methymna; there we found that* ship into which Herodes changed; in that ship, according to the accusers, he died. Now all this was mere chance: obviously I had not persuaded him to travel with me, no, he was travelling on his own business. Then I, personally, had a very good reason for travelling to Ainos; our putting in to that harbour was not premeditatd, we were compelled to. And again, when we were lying at anchor, the change of ship took place without any trickery or fraud: again, it was done because of necessity. The ship, viz., on which we had been travelling was not covered, the other one on the contrary had a covering; that was because of the rain.—All this I will prove by witnesses.—After boarding the other ship we drank some wine. After that it is only known that he left the ship, but did not return. I myself never left the ship that night at all. When the next day but did not return. I myself never left the ship that night at all. When the next day he had disappeared, we looked for him, I as well as the others. Probably it seemed strange to them, it certainly did to me. And it was I who caused a messenger to be sent to Mytilene, not one of the crew or the passengers belonging to Herodes, but my own servant. If I had been guilty, I would not, of course, have sent a man who might have informed against me. But when the man could not be found in Mytilene, nor anywhere else, and when the weather had improved and all the other ships were putting out, I also sailed.—All this I will prove by witnesses. (shrink)

Distinguishing homonymous producers on Greek amphora stamps. Among the producers associated on Greek amphora stamps with an eponymous magistrate (and having thus been in office together during a specific year) there appear rather often (up to 15% of the cases) homonyms. One may thus be surprised that the specialists have never studied the ways that the different production centres distinguished them, in a system of stamping which — whatever its ultimate purpose — must have exercised a certain control (of an (...) administrative character) on the production of amphoras. That is what I have undertaken here, basing myself on a couple of centres most familiar to me : Thasos, Sinope, Herakleia Pontike, Aïnos, Akanthos, Mende, and Ischia. Several solutions (certain, probable or hypothetical) have come to mind, of which the greater part would not have been comprehensible but to the magistrates in charge of stamping. (shrink)

Codex Parisinus graecus 1601 preserves an anonymous family chronicle covering the years 1446–1458 which records in some detail the dates of its author's marriage and the birth of his children. Apart from restoring some readings from its previous recent edition, this article proposes an identification of the anonymous author with Ioannes Kanaboutzes. A scholar with historiographical interests, he is documented as a native of Phocaea and close associate of the Gattelusio, the Genoese rulers of the adjacent island of Lesbos. He (...) is mostly known for his Commentary on Dionysios of Halicarnassus which he dedicated to Palamede Gattilusio, lord of Ainos and of Samothrace. (shrink)

Antiphon, in his fifth oration, relates that c. 422–413 B.C. Euxitheos, a young Mytilenean, and Herodes, probably an Athenian cleruch in Mytilene, embarked together on a ship bound from Mytilene for Ainos in Thrace. Shortly after they left port, a storm forced them to put into an unnamed harbour in Methymnian territory. The two men left their uncovered ship to take shelter in a covered one; whether others from their own ship went with them is not indicated. During the night, (...) a drinking party ensued. Herodes, after heavy drinking, left the covered ship and disappeared; he could not be found in the morning, nor even after two days of searching. When the weather cleared, the search was abandoned, and all ships in the port resumed their voyages. On Euxitheos' return to Mytilene, a charge of murder was brought against him by Herodes' relatives, who tried him in Athens. Antiphon's fifth oration is his final defence; we do not know whether the speech was successful. (shrink)

This paper explores some aspects of the complex narrative strategies employed by Odysseus in his lying tale to Eumaios . Odysseus' fictional autobiography is an ethical parable, designed to commend and validate the very principles of hospitality that Eumaios most cherishes. In the tale, Zeus, god of guests, punishes those who violate hospitality and protects those who depend upon it, bringing the beggar ultimately to the worthy swineherd. In adopting the persona of the wandering immigrant or outsider , Odysseus makes (...) use of a conventional persona found, most significantly, in the "wisdom poetry" of Hesiod. He thereby displays mastery of a traditional mode of poetic narrative. Odysseus also makes the Cretan wanderer a hero of the Trojan War and devotes a considerable portion of his narrative to describing the beggar's "Iliadic" past. His portrait of the Cretan hero draws particularly upon the model of Achilles but is in fact a one-dimensional version of the standard Iliadic hero. Thus, in his account of the beggar's adventures, Odysseus directs a subtle critique at his Iliadic counterpart by setting up an implicit contrast between the Cretan's helplessness and Odysseus' own resourcefulness. Here, too, Odysseus displays a mastery of poetic traditions, inasmuch as his narrative is informed by the traditional, epic antithesis between might and intelligence . These conclusions help to explain two incidents in Book 14 in which Odysseus' behavior is a bit puzzling. Both Odysseus' reaction to the charge of Eumaios' guard dogs and his clumsy attempt to compose an ainos provide concrete illustrations of the "helplessness" of the Cretan beggar. Odysseus acts out the very role that he so masterfully portrays in his tale. (shrink)

The article regards children’s literature as a certain cultural tool. This approach enables to reveal various characteristic aspects of the poetics of children’sliterature, while relating them to children’s cognitive and cultural development. Focusing on a book series Paula’s Life by Estonian author Aino Pervik, it can beseen how two different ways of understanding — the initial, so-called mythological type of thinking of preschoolers and the emerging conceptual thinking — arecombined.The article draws mostly on the concepts of cultural psychology and (...) the authors of Tartu–Moscow school of semiotics, who have elaborated the idea thatproper names form one of the central components of mythological consciousness, the latter being comparable to “the language of proper names”. The main attention is drawn on the functioning of names and the topic of naming and categorizing in these texts. (shrink)

The article regards children’s literature as a certain cultural tool. This approach enables to reveal various characteristic aspects of the poetics of children’s literature, while relating them to children’s cognitive and cultural development. Focusing on a book series Paula’s Life by Estonian author Aino Pervik, it can be seen how two different ways of understanding — the initial, so-called mythological type of thinking of preschoolers and the emerging conceptual thinking — are combined. The article draws mostly on the concepts (...) of cultural psychology and the authors of Tartu–Moscow school of semiotics, who have elaborated the idea that proper names form one of the central components of mythological consciousness, the latter being comparable to “the language of proper names”. The main attention is drawn on the functioning of names and the topic of naming and categorizing in these texts. (shrink)

The article regards children’s literature as a certain cultural tool. This approach enables to reveal various characteristic aspects of the poetics of children’sliterature, while relating them to children’s cognitive and cultural development. Focusing on a book series Paula’s Life by Estonian author Aino Pervik, it can beseen how two different ways of understanding — the initial, so-called mythological type of thinking of preschoolers and the emerging conceptual thinking — arecombined.The article draws mostly on the concepts of cultural psychology and (...) the authors of Tartu–Moscow school of semiotics, who have elaborated the idea thatproper names form one of the central components of mythological consciousness, the latter being comparable to “the language of proper names”. The main attention is drawn on the functioning of names and the topic of naming and categorizing in these texts. (shrink)

The article regards children’s literature as a certain cultural tool. This approach enables to reveal various characteristic aspects of the poetics of children’sliterature, while relating them to children’s cognitive and cultural development. Focusing on a book series Paula’s Life by Estonian author Aino Pervik, it can beseen how two different ways of understanding — the initial, so-called mythological type of thinking of preschoolers and the emerging conceptual thinking — arecombined.The article draws mostly on the concepts of cultural psychology and (...) the authors of Tartu–Moscow school of semiotics, who have elaborated the idea thatproper names form one of the central components of mythological consciousness, the latter being comparable to “the language of proper names”. The main attention is drawn on the functioning of names and the topic of naming and categorizing in these texts. (shrink)