This research study was designed to investigate the relationships of imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, subjective stress and seriousness of illness and to determine the potential of certain cognitive mediating variables, especially imagery and an interaction between self-concept and imagery, to significantly increase the efficiency of stress as a predictor of seriousness of illness. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the efficiency of stress as a predictor of disease, (2) to determine if cognitive mediating variables will significantly increase the predictive efficiency between stress and disease, (3) to investigate selected correlations among the variables, (4) to provide a research base for current treatment procedures using imagery treating various illnesses.

Mental imagery is a common theme in research that clarifies how musical thought relates to musical performance. Unfortunately, minimal information exists regarding mental imagery and singers. The purpose of this study was to probe the role, if any, mental imagery plays in the conceptualization of pitch and vowel. By interviewing singers at differing levels of expertise, basic information was obtained about the mental processes used by singers. Through evaluations of the singers' mental processes, it was concluded that 95% of the singers in the study employed mental imagery. All singers described using kinesthetic imagery, while the majority implemented sensory and auditory imagery. Viso-spatial imagery was implemented among the more experienced singers. The majority of singers also reported: imaging pitch and vowel interactively; imaging from an internal perspective; and utilizing mental rehearsal. Less than half of the singers described using methods other than mental imagery to conceptualize pitch and vowel.

A normative experimental study was undertaken to establish whether engaging in positive, negative, and neutral mental imagery affected the reaction rate of participants to positive, negative, and neutral word stimuli. The sample consisted of computer literate, English speaking participants with no history of clinical disorders. A total of 80 participants took part in the study, with 40 participants from either gender. The results of a factorial ANOVA indicated that the type of mental imagery engaged in had a significant effect on the rate at which participants responded to stimuli (p=.00023, F=8.4057), whilst the emotional valence of the stimuli did not have a significant effect (p=.30503, F=1.1877). However, the interaction between the type of mental imagery and the emotional valence of the stimuli was highly significant (p=.00794, F=3.4576), thereby indicating that engaging in positive or negative mental imagery did bias participants towards a faster reaction rate to positive or negative stimuli respectively. / M.A. (Psychology) / Psychology

The present study investigated the influence of a brief, intensive biofeedback-assisted imagery training regimen on psychological, physiological and neuroendocrinological measures of pain and stress in injury related chronic pain patients. The subjects were 36 patients (myelography examcandidates) who were assigned to the imagery or wait-list control group by order of referral presentation and to formulate equivalent groups.

A normative experimental study was undertaken to establish whether engaging in positive, negative, and neutral mental imagery affected the reaction rate of participants to positive, negative, and neutral word stimuli. The sample consisted of computer literate, English speaking participants with no history of clinical disorders. A total of 80 participants took part in the study, with 40 participants from either gender. The results of a factorial ANOVA indicated that the type of mental imagery engaged in had a significant effect on the rate at which participants responded to stimuli (p=.00023, F=8.4057), whilst the emotional valence of the stimuli did not have a significant effect (p=.30503, F=1.1877). However, the interaction between the type of mental imagery and the emotional valence of the stimuli was highly significant (p=.00794, F=3.4576), thereby indicating that engaging in positive or negative mental imagery did bias participants towards a faster reaction rate to positive or negative stimuli respectively. / M. A. (Psychology) / Psychology

Background Research has shown that people need to be pre-informed about the ambiguity in order to perceive both interpretations (reverse) of an ambiguous figure. Children younger than 4 years mostly do not experience reversal even when informed. This suggests that the processes involved in reversal develop at this age. Aim The aim of the studies reported here was to disentangle the cognitive processes (metarepresentation, executive function, mental imagery) and the role of eye-movements involved in reversal. Method Four studies (7 experiments), each involving around sixty 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children, using multiple tasks, were conducted. The primary tasks used were the Ambiguous Figures Production and Reversal tasks. The secondary tasks used were metacognitive, executive function and mental imagery tasks. New tasks were also implemented in order to assess reversal abilities. Results Between the ages of 3 and 4 children develop the basic conceptual understanding for reversal (Study 1), that an ambiguous figure can have two interpretations. This is associated with the understanding of false belief, synonymy and homonymy. Between the ages of 4 and 5 children develop inhibitory (Study 3) and image generation abilities (Study 4). These are key cognitive processes necessary for reversal. Contrary to previous research, when task demands were changed (Reversal Task Revised) children’s reversal is at ceiling by the age of 5 (Studies 3 and 4). Eye-tracking data suggests that appropriate eye-movements, focusing on particular parts of the ambiguous figure, are not a primary causal factor in the development of reversal abilities (Study 4). Conclusion The ability to reverse develops in two stages. During stage 1 (between 3 and 4 years) children develop the necessary conceptual understanding that an ambiguous figure can have two interpretations (top-down knowledge). During stage 2 (between 4 and 5 years) children develop the necessary cognitive processes for reversal to occur (inhibition and image generation).

This study discusses the assessment and treatment of a 21-year old male who had suffered multiple traumas, which had culminated in the death of his younger brother. He presented with Acute Stress Disorder. The literature review examines a diverse range of theorists and discourses, that have addressed the psychological consequences of trauma and highlights the complexity of the phenomena involved. The case study, located in the South African context, aims to sensitise the reader to the unique dilemmas facing each trauma survivor, and serves to highlight specifically those areas, which are pertinent and further more contribute significantly to the recovery process. The case narrative consists of a detailed synopsis of the therapy process, extracted from the session record notes documented at the time. Several other sources of information, including contributions from the participant, were used to verify and validate the accuracy of the data included. The narrative is written in a style that conveys the intensity of the nature of trauma work and the manner in which both patient and clinician are frequently confronted with very difficult emotional work. Finally the discussion examines the case narrative through the use of a set of carefully selected hermeneutic questions. These focused on (I) key concepts from the work of Robert Lifton who highlights the existential dimensions of the impact of trauma; (2) the role of the image in encapsulating the complex traumatic and post-traumatic experience of the survivor as well as facilitating the emotional processing of the trauma is examined; (3) the contribution to the process of therapy of aspects of the therapeutic relationship; and (4) the concept of recovery in relation to the question of what constitutes 'trauma work'. In conclusion, several meta-theoretical issues related to trauma, the strengths and weaknesses inherent to the research and relevant future areas of research are highlighted.

In the contemporary scenario of the capitalistic Western societies, the flashes of media photographers coupled with legal and scientific hegemonic discursive productions, give light to the body of drug users. Production of photographic image of the infamous subject, provided body - drugged body that contrasts with the other clichés enunciator´s images of beautiful, healthy and perfect body to be consumed. From the web of clichés of contemporary images, this Master thesis was composed with other strands of this web imagery, in order to compose looks, bodies and becoming deviations with said subject infamous drugged bodies. Toward this goal, we conducted meetings with drug users and other residents of a municipality in the Recôncavo of Bahia. Encounters with drug users (crack, marijuana and alcohol) were guided by the proposed production of photographs taken by the user of drugs. The first steps of rapprochement with partners followed the direction: shooting from what was important in their lives, but in time, we deviate from the risk of the web of representation and not confrontational images, which could favor this proposal, and let us guided by other track tensioning of clichés images: producing images from the user´s own relationship with drugs. The body - stoned in the crosshairs of photography and ´look like´, current look / virtual. To follow the process of composition looks and experimentation of thought with partners this study, we invested in mapping as a method of intervention research. The technological feature of the camera founds carto(foto)grafia, subjectivity device, producing cracks in the lenses pointing stereotyped ways of producing and viewing pictures of drug users. In the composition of the theoretical, were affected by the traces of the thinking of philosophers of difference, Baruch Spinoza, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche and the like. / No cenário contemporâneo das sociedades capitalísticas ocidentais, flashs dos fotógrafos midiáticos, conjugados às produções discursivas hegemônicas jurídicas e científicas, dão luminosidade ao corpo de usuários de drogas. Produção de imagem fotográfica do sujeito infame, na condição de corpo-drogado, corpo que contrasta com as outras imagens clichês enunciadoras do corpo belo, saudável e perfeito para ser consumido. A partir da teia de imagens clichês do contemporâneo, esta pesquisa de mestrado se compôs com outros fios, outras imagens com o objetivo de compor olhares, corpos, desvios e devires com os ditos sujeitos infames, corpos drogados. Nesse sentido, realizamos encontros com usuários de drogas e outros moradores de um município do interior do recôncavo da Bahia. Os encontros com usuários de drogas (crack, maconha e álcool) foram guiados pela proposta de produção de fotografias realizadas pelos próprios usuários de drogas. Os primeiros passos de aproximação com os parceiros seguiram a direção de fotografar a partir do que era importante em suas vidas, mas em tempo, nos desviamos do risco da teia da representação e não confronto de imagens, que esta proposta poderia favorecer, e nos deixamos guiar por outra pista tensionadora das imagens clichês: produzir imagens fotográficas a partir da própria relação do usuário com as drogas. O corpo-drogado na mira da fotografia e do olhar de si , olhar atual/virtual. Para acompanhar o processo de composição de olhares e experimentação do pensamento com os parceiros deste estudo, investimos na cartografia como método de pesquisa-intervenção. Com o recurso tecnológico da câmera fotográfica, ensaiase a carto-fotografia, dispositivo de subjetivação, produtor de rachaduras nas lentes que apontam modos estereotipados de produzir e ver as imagens dos usuários de drogas. Na composição do corpo teórico, fomos afetados pelos traços do pensamento dos filósofos da diferença, Baruch Spinoza, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche e afins.

The topic of this work is motor imagery. Through 7 different studies, the process and proprieties of motor imagery and its impact on motor learning were assessed. It was found that this cognitive activity is closely linked to the motor system. This characteristic underlies the positive effects of motor imagery on motor learning. This can have many practical applications in the domain of sport and motor rehabilitation.<p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Consisting of both theoretical and empirical inquires, this study examines the primary functions of narrative and the relationship between narrative and mental imagery. The study proposes a new framework to interpret semiotic resources. Combining this with the linguistic functional theory of Halliday (1978), a functional method to empirically investigate semiotic representations was also developed. In the empirical inquiry, the study developed a latent construct method to empirically test the effects of narrative in a real learning situation. This study is the first to investigate the functional relationship between narrative and mental imagery, and among the first to suggest a theory and empirically investigate representations of a multimodal nature. The study is also among the first to use latent constructs to investigate the learning experience in a real educational setting. Data were collected from 190 library professionals who enrolled in three sections (two in narrative and one in plain text) of an online course administered through Vista 4.0 and who completed the course and responded to several instruments. Essay data (n = 82 x 2) were analyzed using content analysis based on the narrative analysis framework developed. Quantitative data analysis methods include univariate data analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling that tests the proposed model and verifies the relationships between the latent variables. Overall, the findings support the hypotheses about the functional effects of narrative identified, and narrative is found to provide a favorable and positive learning context which is tested by the proposed model of learning experience measured by several latent constructs (X2 = 31.67, df = 47, p = .9577, RMSEA = .00, SRMR = .047, NNFI = 1.05, CFI = 1.00, and GFI = .94). The results indicate that participants who enrolled in the narrative sections of the course gained higher creative scores and showed better results in performance-based and attribution-based experiences. The model testing results indicate that even though more time spent during learning led to better outcome and performance in both groups, more time spent means more satisfaction for the individuals in the narrative group, but led to less satisfaction for the individuals in the non-narrative group.