Theory of mind abilities in individuals with autism, Down syndrome, and mental retardation of unknown etiology: the role of age and intelligence

We examined theory of mind abilities of individuals with autism, mental retardation (MR) of unknown etiology, Down syndrome, and normal children. On false belief and deception tasks, normal children performed better than all clinical groups, while no differences emerged among the clinical groups. The groups with MR performed better than the group with autism on the value task only. For individuals with autism, theory of mind abilities correlated with verbal ability. For individuals with MR nonverbal abilities correlated with deception and false belief scores. Findings are discussed in terms of the specificity of the theory of mind deficit to autism.

Basic cultural values and differences in attitudes towards health, illness and treatment preferences within a psychosomatic frame of reference

BACKGROUND

Regarded from a biopsychosocial point of view, a culturally determined differential impact of values, lifestyles and attitudes can be expected on health and illness concepts, exerting a potential influence on the general satisfaction with the health care system as well as on subjective treatment preferences.

METHODS

57 men and 63 women between 16 and 86 years of age in the Netherlands and 45 men and 39 women aged between 15 and 78 years in Japan took part in the study. Questions to the subjects were not exclusively restricted to medical care but comprised the potential relationship between health and illness on the one hand, and lifestyles, values, attitudes and treatment preferences on the other. On the basis of previous experience with data from the Dutch sample 27 questions were selected and, using the whole sample, submitted to a factor analysis. Furthermore subjective health and illness attributions were compared by means of a projective technique.

RESULTS

The factor analysis resulted in five dimensions: relaxation, work, hedonistic goals versus social status, family life versus career making, alternative versus conventional medical care, with three significant differences between the two countries and two significant gender effects. The projective technique revealed two cultural differences in illness attributions.

CONCLUSIONS

The implications of these results for possible health promotion campaigns and a differential choice of health-care strategies are discussed from within a psychosomatic frame of reference. It is hypothesized that the revealed differences can also be useful for attempts at a group-specific increase of acceptance and compliance of certain treatments.

The fourth state of consciousness: the Thuriya Avastha

Present day neurophysiology stops with attributing thinking processes as the highest level of function of the brain. It has been common knowledge to oriental thinkers for many centuries, that there are many further states of the human mind, culminating in the state of thoughtless awareness; the fourth state of consciousness. This state must have a physiological basis. The complicated structure of the brain, the extravagant abundance of neural and glial elements in the brain, the infinite possibilities of synaptic junctions and synaptic transmission, and the multitude of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators; all these point to the definite possibility of a much greater level of performance and achievement for the human brain than has been apparent so far. Not only the theories but also the experience of Eastern seers have shown that the brain can transcend the boundaries of logic and reason, and experience states of awareness, commonly unrecognized. In the past few decades, knowledge about the functioning of the human brain has been growing exponentially and scientists of diverse disciplines are concentrating on unraveling its mysteries. It is necessary for scientists to investigate this state with all available tools and find the neurophysiological basis of this state.

Japanese dreams: culture and cosmology

Attitudes to dream evaluation vary depending on culture. Dreams are considered important, real, and public in some cultures, but absurd, irrational and personal in others. Japan has its own history of dreaming, which can be well reconstructed due to rich sources of archeological and documentary material. In this paper dream evolution in Japan is described. Phase 1 is the prehistoric Jomon period, where people believed dreams were part of reality. From Phase 2, the sophisticated philosophies of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were introduced and changed the social and mental system of Japan in phase 3. At phase 4, the amalgamation of local and alien cultures occurred and supernatural beliefs prevailed. In this society dreams played a very important role. Phase 5 is the period when the Samurai class ruled Japan. The pragmatic thinking of the Samurai succeeded in fostering good preconditions for the receipt of scientific Western culture in phase 6. The importance of dreams in Japan evolved in such a way. However, the elements of each phase continued and accumulated similar layers. Thus, a majority of the phases seemed to retain animism from the Jomon period.