Forgetting of Emotional Information Is Hard: An fMRI Study of Directed Forgetting

Strong evidence suggests that memory for emotional information is much better than for neutral one. Thus, one may expect that forgetting of emotional information is difficult and requires considerable effort. The aim of this item-method directed forgetting functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate this hypothesis both at behavioral and neural levels. Directed forgetting effects were observed for both neutral and emotionally negative International Affective Picture System images. Moreover, recognition rate of negative to-be-forgotten images was higher than in case of neutral ones. In the study phase, intention to forget and successful forgetting of emotionally negative images were associated with widespread activations extending from the anterior to posterior regions mainly in the right hemisphere, whereas in the case of neutral images, they were associated with just one cluster of activation in the right lingual gyrus. Therefore, forgetting of emotional information seems to be a demanding process that strongly activates a distributed neural network in the right hemisphere. In the test phase, in turn, successfully forgotten images—either neutral or emotionally negative—were associated with virtually no activation, even at the lowered P value threshold. These results suggest that intentional inhibition during encoding may be an efficient strategy to cope with emotionally negative memorie

Xanthippe – Good Wife of Socrates

After the death of Socrates, anecdotes and distorted stories about the philosopher’s family life and the unbearable character of his wife, Xanthippe, circulated in the general quasi literary circle. These stories were willingly read in subsequent epochs. Eventually, they preserved the model of the hellcat wife in the shape of Xanthippe, to which we still eagerly refer to. But did Socrates’ wife really deserve such a bad opinion? Is it possible for such a rating to be given by the desultory information we owe to Plato (Phaed. 60a) and Xenophon (Mem. II 2, Conv. II 10)? When attempt­ing to defend the Xanthippe, an important source turned out to be a letter from Pseudo-Xenophon (vel Pseudo-Aeschines), which allowed us to look at the philosopher’s wife as his pupil, leading life according to Socrates’ teachings and surrounded by the care of his friends (Epist. XXI, Hercher 1873: 624)

Zasadność współczesnych klasyfikacji genologicznych kolekcji „Listów Ksenofonta” oraz „Listów Sokratesa i sokratyków”. Pomiędzy nowelą a powieścią

This article is an attempt to indicate the genre of two collections of the apocryphal letters – The letters of Xenophon (we only have 7 excerpts preserved in the Anthology by Stobaeus) and The letters of Socrates and the Socratics. The term griechische Briefroman proposed by N. Holzberg to describe the genre of pseudonymous collections of letters in most cases proved to be too wide and inadequate. P.A. Rosenmeyer found the term novella more appropriate here. So, what literary characteristics, inherent in a novel or a novella or a short story, are dominant in Xenophontis epistolae and Socrates et socraticorum epistolae?This article is an attempt to indicate the genre of two collections of the apocryphal letters – The letters of Xenophon (we only have 7 excerpts preserved in the Anthology by Stobaeus) and The letters of Socrates and the Socratics. The term griechische Briefroman proposed by N. Holzberg to describe the genre of pseudonymous collections of letters in most cases proved to be too wide and inadequate. P.A. Rosenmeyer found the term novella more appropriate here. So, what literary characteristics, inherent in a novel or a novella or a short story, are dominant in Xenophontis epistolae and Socrates et socraticorum epistolae

Nie mogę dłużej udawać dostępnej

Natalia Malek undertakes a task of finding a possibility of translation between the languages of prosaic/poetic and visual arts, thus struggling to widen the spectrum of artistic expression. Her actions aim to intensify the form of the poem, which results in her leaning towards daring minimalism. Malek’s poems have gone a long way from life images with an ordered plot to concise linguistic images which strive towards deeper meanings and open up questions about identity and the art of poetry.Natalia Malek undertakes a task of finding a possibility of translation between the languages of prosaic/poetic and visual arts, thus struggling to widen the spectrum of artistic expression. Her actions aim to intensify the form of the poem, which results in her leaning towards daring minimalism. Malek’s poems have gone a long way from life images with an ordered plot to concise linguistic images which strive towards deeper meanings and open up questions about identity and the art of poetry

Wzniosłość i gniew

The article endeavours to characterize key issues raised by Ananda Devi (1957), a francophone writer and poet born in Mauritius who has been living in France for many years. The analysis is based primarily on two novels that were translated into Polish by Krzysztof Jarosz: Le sari vert / Zielone sari and Ève de ses décombres / Ewa ze swych zgliszcz. Already these two novels enable us to perceive the uniqueness of Devi’s writings, whose clear commitment to the discussion about burning social problems equals its commitment to the discussion with literature: its tradition, present status quo, planned future. Devi poses questions about national, linguistic, cultural, and sexual identity; about wasted opportunities of emancipation from the shackles of colonialism; about possibilities of freedom in the environment of systemic subjugation. The micro perspective enables her to show some macro phenomena: continuous production of “dispensable people,” human robots exploited to produce goods for the rich North and the rich West, sacked overnight when using cheap labour force stops bringing profit; systemic racism used by the law-observing state to perform illegal acts. In the world based on the economy of profit, literature, and particularly poetry, becomes a unique weapon, because it serves no purpose. Reading and writing are revolutionary activities, looking for brothers and sisters in poetry is a chance to build a radical International that includes also (or rather, first of all) men and women who have experienced rupture, life in two different dimensions, languages, groups (choosing French by a Mauritian was a declaration, Devi describes the experience of splitting when portraying Sad in Ève de ses décombres). Devi is particularly concerned with the fate of children doomed to failure due to their “bad” descent, skin colour, or sex, children who are guilty from birth. Systemic inequalities and inherited violence in humiliated and ashamed communities mainly afflict women, who are reduced to bodies that may be conquered, beaten, exploited as labour force. Devi succeeds in presenting silent or nameless women not as victims (although she does not underplay their suffering, on the contrary), but as heroes who become reborn after traumas or in next generations, able to take revenge, risking the scraps of stability and false safety to show their presence, to exert influence, to reverberate. The flame of wrath experienced by Devi’s characters, also those burnt alive, as the character in Le sari vert, should (and will) be a seedbed of change, because you cannot burn all women pregnant with silence. Devi accuses (like the author of Les Misérables), she is not afraid of elevation, as panache is necessary for a coup, for changing the status quo, the order based on lawlessness, for social, common awakening.The article endeavours to characterize key issues raised by Ananda Devi (1957), a francophone writer and poet born in Mauritius who has been living in France for many years. The analysis is based primarily on two novels that were translated into Polish by Krzysztof Jarosz: Le sari vert / Zielone sari and Ève de ses décombres / Ewa ze swych zgliszcz. Already these two novels enable us to perceive the uniqueness of Devi’s writings, whose clear commitment to the discussion about burning social problems equals its commitment to the discussion with literature: its tradition, present status quo, planned future. Devi poses questions about national, linguistic, cultural, and sexual identity; about wasted opportunities of emancipation from the shackles of colonialism; about possibilities of freedom in the environment of systemic subjugation. The micro perspective enables her to show some macro phenomena: continuous production of “dispensable people,” human robots exploited to produce goods for the rich North and the rich West, sacked overnight when using cheap labour force stops bringing profit; systemic racism used by the law-observing state to perform illegal acts. In the world based on the economy of profit, literature, and particularly poetry, becomes a unique weapon, because it serves no purpose. Reading and writing are revolutionary activities, looking for brothers and sisters in poetry is a chance to build a radical International that includes also (or rather, first of all) men and women who have experienced rupture, life in two different dimensions, languages, groups (choosing French by a Mauritian was a declaration, Devi describes the experience of splitting when portraying Sad in Ève de ses décombres). Devi is particularly concerned with the fate of children doomed to failure due to their “bad” descent, skin colour, or sex, children who are guilty from birth. Systemic inequalities and inherited violence in humiliated and ashamed communities mainly afflict women, who are reduced to bodies that may be conquered, beaten, exploited as labour force. Devi succeeds in presenting silent or nameless women not as victims (although she does not underplay their suffering, on the contrary), but as heroes who become reborn after traumas or in next generations, able to take revenge, risking the scraps of stability and false safety to show their presence, to exert influence, to reverberate. The flame of wrath experienced by Devi’s characters, also those burnt alive, as the character in Le sari vert, should (and will) be a seedbed of change, because you cannot burn all women pregnant with silence. Devi accuses (like the author of Les Misérables), she is not afraid of elevation, as panache is necessary for a coup, for changing the status quo, the order based on lawlessness, for social, common awakening

Modern Attempts to Rehabilitate Socrates’ Wife by Christoph Martin Wieland, Eduard Zeller, and in the Apology of Xanthippe by Stefan Pawlicki and in the Apology of Xanthippe by Ludwik Hieronim Morstin

The aim of the article is to explain how views on Xanthippe as a wife and Socrates as a husband were verified in modern times, i.e., how the defence of a woman considered the most unbearable in ancient Greece looked like. Four texts served as the most representative examples: Ch.M. Wieland’s short essay on Xanthippe, E. Zeller’s essay entitled Zur Ehrenrettung der Xanthippe and S. Pawlicki’s the fictitious defence speech of Ksantypa (titled The Apology Xanthippe), and L.H. Morstin’s comedy The Apology Xanthippe. It should be emphasized that the above-mentioned writers and researchers of antiquity were clearly influenced by their predecessor

Zastosowanie choreoterapii w procesie usprawniania osób starszych : przegląd systematyczny

Choreoterapia wykorzystuje ruch i taniec do wyrażania uczuć, emocji i doświadczeń, pozwala na trening równowagi, koordynacji ruchu, jego płynności i czasowej synchronizacji. Biorąc pod uwagę różnego rodzaju zaburzenia typowe dla wieku starczego, dobroczynne walory choreoterapii wydają się idealnie pokrywać z wymaganiami, które stawia się kompleksowej rehabilitacji osób starszych. Cel: Przegląd literatury poświęconej zastosowaniu choreoterapii w populacji osób starszych, niezbędny do sformułowania rekomendacji do zastosowania tej metody lub stwierdzenia jej braku. Metody: Przeszukano elektroniczne bazy danych: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, PEDro, poszukując publikacji w języku angielskim, które ukazały się od 2000 roku do dnia przeszukiwania baz danych, czyli 19 lipca 2013. Badania eksperymentalne z randomizacją lub bez, włączone do przeglądu, powinny były przedstawiać zastosowanie dowolnej formy choreoterapii u osób starszych, porównując ją do innej interwencji lub jej braku w oparciu o wyniki wiarygodnych narzędzi pomiarowych mierzących stan fizyczny i/lub psychiczny badanych. Choreoterapia mogła być jedyną formą oddziaływania lub stanowić część postępowania terapeutycznego. Wyniki: Spośród 261 odnalezionych prac 18 spełniło kryteria włączenia do analizy. Pośród 10 badań randomizowanych znalazło się jedno o niskiej jakości metodologicznej, 6 odznaczało się umiarkowaną rzetelnością, a 3 wysoką jakością metodologiczną. Wśród 8 badań nierandomizowanych znalazły się 2 badania typu "przed-po" z grupą kontrolną oraz 6 badań tego samego rodzaju, lecz niekontrolowanych. Zastosowane metody choreoterapii to: Korean dance movement, tango, waltz/foxtrot, ballroom dance, salsa, modern jazz, improwizacje taneczne, metoda Lebed Method - forma tańca terapeutycznego, terapia tańcem Wu Tao oraz terapia ruchowa tańcem (Dance Movement Therapy). Wnioski: Taniec wydaje się być efektywną formą zajęć ruchowych dla osób starszych, wpływając na poprawę zmiennych związanych z działaniem aparatu ruchu i samopoczuciem psychicznym. Konieczne jest przeprowadzenie dobrze zaprojektowanych badań, które pozwolą na wskazanie optymalnego typu i parametrów tańca wykorzystywanego w celu poprawy ściśle określonych zaburzeń ruchowych osób starszych.Choreotherapy uses movement and dance to express feelings, emotions and experiences. It provides an opportunity to train in balancing, coordination, and fluency and synchronisation of movement. Taking into account the different types of disorders that are typical of old age, the beneficial qualities of choreotherapy seem to perfectly coincide with the requirements of the comprehensive rehabilitation of older adults. Objective: To review the literature on the use of choreotherapy in a population of older adults, in order to give recommendations for using this method, or for rejecting it. Methods: Certain electronic databases such as PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and PEDro were used to look for English-language publications that appeared from 2000 to the day of searching, i.e. 19 July 2013. Experimental studies with or without randomisation were reviewed, which presented the application of any form of choreotherapy in older adults and compared it to a different intervention, or a lack thereof, and were based on the results of reliable means of measuring physical and/or mental states of the patients. The choreotherapy in these studies could constitute the only form of interaction, or could be a part of a therapeutic intervention. Results: Among the 261 works that were found, 18 met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. In the 10 randomized studies, one had a low methodological quality, six had a moderate reliability, and three had a high methodological quality. In the eight non-randomized studies, there were two studies of a “before-and-after” type with a control group. There were also six studies of the same type, but these were not controlled. The applied choreotherapy methods were: Korean dance movement, Tango, Waltz/Foxtrot, ballroom dancing, Salsa, modern jazz, improvisational dance, the Lebed Method (a form of dance therapy), Wu Tao dance therapy, and Dance Movement Therapy. Conclusion: Dancing seems to be an effective form of exercise for older adults, as it improves the variables related to the performance of the motor system and the mental wellbeing of the participants. However, it is necessary to carry out well-planned studies that will indicate the optimal types and parameters of dance that can be used to improve specific motor disorders in older adults