Books by Avraham Schweiger
"Franz G. Riffert & Michel Weber (eds.), Searching for New Contrasts. Whiteheadian Contributions ... more "Franz G. Riffert & Michel Weber (eds.), Searching for New Contrasts. Whiteheadian Contributions to Contemporary Challenges in Neurophysiology, Psychology, Psychotherapy and the Philosophy of Mind, Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Whitehead Psychology Nexus Studies I, 2003. (444 p. ; ISBN 3-631-39089-0 ; 68,5 €)
Whitehead claimed that “to sustain a civilization with the intensity of its first ardour requires more than learning. Adventure is essential, namely, the search for new perfections” (Adventures of Ideas, 258). Since humility is—more than ever—urgently needed in scholarship, we have chosen to qualify our conceptual adventure as a search for new contrasts, thus invoking an essential Whiteheadian concept. As the reader will have already understood, contrast does not mean here contention, or strife, or even comparison between fields that are essentially foreign to each other; it means emphasizing the complementariness of differences and the promotion of synergies.
"
Foreword, Franz G. Riffert and Michel Weber
List of Contributors
Introduction. Reconnecting Science and Metaphysics: General Considerations and Pioneer Works on Process-Psychology, Franz G. Riffert and John B. Cobb, Jr.
Part I. Neurophysiology
Value in Mind and Nature, Jason W. Brown
Consciousness, Whitehead and Quantum Computation in the Brain: Panprotopsychism Meets the Physics of Fundamental Space-Time Geometry, Stuart Hameroff
Consciousness: The Brain’s Private Psychological Field, Marcel Kinsbourne
The Common Origin of Perception and Action: A Process Perspective, Avraham Schweiger
Part II. Psychology
Whitehead's Faculty-Psychology, Jean-Claude Dumoncel
Psychology Moves Towards Whitehead, John Pickering
On Scientific Confirmation of Causal Efficacy, Franz G. Riffert
What is Called “Feeling”?—Lure and Certainty in Whitehead and Descartes, Pierre Rodrigo
The One and the Many. Reflections on Whitehead’s notion of Personal Identity, Luca Vanzago
Part III. Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy in Process, John B. Cobb, Jr.
The Promise of Process Psychology, David E. Roy
The Universality of Impermanence, C. R. F. Sherlock
The Art of Epochal Change, Michel Weber
Part IV. Philosophy of Mind
A Psychology for the Ecosystem, Liliana Albertazzi
Mind as Process, Mark H. Bickhard
Direct Realism in Perception and Memory, Peter Farleigh
Untangling “Self,” “Person,” and “I”, David Galin
Whitehead and the Revival (?) of Panpsychism, William Seager
Psychology and Physics Reconciled: Whitehead’s Vision of Metaphysics, Anderson Weekes
Critical Apparatus
General Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Names
Detailed Table of Contents
Papers by Avraham Schweiger
Monatsschr Kinderheilk, 2005
Kin der kli nik und Kin der po li kli nik, Dr. von Hau ner sches Kin der spi tal, Lud wig-Ma xi m... more Kin der kli nik und Kin der po li kli nik, Dr. von Hau ner sches Kin der spi tal, Lud wig-Ma xi mi lians-Uni ver si tät, Mün chen, Deutsch land Zö lia kie bei Dia be tes mel li tus Typ I Mäd chen mit frü hem Dia be tes be ginn als Ri si ko pa ti en tin nen Monatsschrift Kinderheilkd 2005 · 153:565-570
J Neuropsychol, 2011
Research implicates frontostriatal pathophysiology in both attention deficit/hyperactivity disord... more Research implicates frontostriatal pathophysiology in both attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, ADHD is characterized with frontostriatal hypoactivity and OCD with hyperactivity. Furthermore, both disorders seem to lie on opposite ends of a clinical impulsive-compulsive continuum. While never having directly been compared, and despite these differences, OCD and ADHD appear to share similar neuropsychological impairments especially in executive functions. This study aimed at comparing adults with OCD and adults with ADHD on neuropsychological measures and behavioural impulsivity and OC measures. Thirty OCD, 30 ADHD, and 30 matched healthy control (HC) participants were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and completed several questionnaires. The groups were compared on all neuropsychological and clinical measures and correlations between neuropsychological and clinical symptoms were computed. The ADHD and OCD groups performed more poorly than HC on all neuropsychological domains and most domain subtests. The ADHD group reported significantly higher impulsivity than the OCD group. OCD patients did not differ from HC on behavioural impulsivity. A unique dissociation was found between impulsivity and response inhibition where both clinical groups showed similar response inhibition deficit, but differed significantly on impulsivity. Moreover, a negative association between OC symptoms and response inhibition and a bias in self-perception of impulsivity was found only in the OCD group. We propose an executive overload model of OCD that views neuropsychological impairments in OCD as an epiphenomenon, according to which continuous attempts to control automatic processes are associated with obsessive thoughts overflow that causes an overload on the executive system.
Integr Psychol Behav Sci, 1981
More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when ... more More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when told that a (nonexistent) electric current was passing through their heads. These reports appeared independent of whether the instructions emphasized the headache-producing effect of the current or whether the emphasis was on a perceptual task, with headache as only a possible side effect. The results are consistent with a view of pain as localized stress. They provide additional grounds for the suspicion that clinical focusing on pain may itself be a cause of pain.
The Journals of Gerontology Series a Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Dec 1, 2008
BackgroundThe factors that contribute to the dual task (DT) changes in performance that occur whe... more BackgroundThe factors that contribute to the dual task (DT) changes in performance that occur when older adults walk while simultaneously performing other tasks are not well-known. We hypothesized that cognitive and motor reserve (e.g., executive function, EF, postural control, and walking abilities) and affect (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) influence the DT decrements (DTDs) in gait.Methods228 community-living, healthy older adults (mean: 76.2±4.2 yrs; 59% women) walked with and without dual tasking, e.g., subtracting 7’s, phoneme monitoring. Mobility (e.g., the Dynamic Gait Index), cognitive function (e.g., memory, EF), and affect (e.g., Geriatric Depression Scale) were quantified. Bivariate and multivariate analyses identified factors associated with the DTD in gait speed (a general measure of locomotor function), swing time, (reflecting balance during gait), and swing time variability (a measure of stride-to-stride consistency).ResultsGait speed and swing time decreased (p<0.001) and swing time variability increased (became worse) (p<0.001) during all DTs. The DTD in gait speed was correlated with comfortable-walking gait speed, but not with tests of mobility or cognitive function. The DTD in swing time variability was correlated with EF, mobility and affect (e.g., depressive symptoms). Much of the variance in the DTDs was unexplained.ConclusionsUsual-walking abilities and cognitive function contribute to the DT effects on gait, but these relationships depend on specifics of the DT, the gait feature being studied, and the particulars of the cognitive domain. Meeting the everyday challenges of walking while dual tasking apparently relies on multiple factors including a consistent gait pattern and EF.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
CNS spectrums
The present study investigated the effect of age of secondlanguage acquisition (Hebrew) on verbal... more The present study investigated the effect of age of secondlanguage acquisition (Hebrew) on verbal fluency in a random sample of 196 elderly Israelis from four distinct ethnic groups. Using conventional statistics, it was shown that phonemic fluency, particularly switching, is associated with education and the age of Hebrew acquisition, while semantic fluency, particularly clustering, is associated with age. Ethnic differences were not significant after controlling for the age of Hebrew acquisition and education. Additional analyses show that the tendency of subjects to use borrowed, non-Hebrew words on the phonemic fluency task was associated with lower total scores on this task and later age of Hebrew acquisition. In contrast, the tendency to use non-Hebrew words on the semantic fluency task was associated with age and higher total scores. These findings are discussed with regard to recent functional imaging studies of bilingual subjects. Such findings indicate that native and second languages form distinct areas of activation in the dominant anterior language area, an area often associated with phonemic processing and switching, whereas an overlap of activation of various languages has been demonstrated within the posterior language areas, those that are often associated with semantic processing.
Introduction: Validity of neuropsychological assessment depends, inter alia, on the cooperation o... more Introduction: Validity of neuropsychological assessment depends, inter alia, on the cooperation of the examinee, requiring separate assessment. Stand-alone tests devised for detecting negative response bias (NRB) are exposed to potential threats to their validity. In this study, an algorithm was developed for assessing NRB within a standardized, computerized neuropsychological battery (NeuroTrax), making it difficult to detect and circumvent. Method: Data were collected from the archived medical records of 75 outpatients with mild to moderate head injury, all in litigation. Participants were classified as low or high likelihood for NRB, using a known test for effort assessment (Test of Memory Malingering). Results: Variables judged to be prone for exaggeration and showing large differences between the groups were entered into a logistic regression analysis. The resulting formula exhibited high specificity (98.0%) and sensitivity (87.5%), classifying correctly 94% of the cases. Conclusion: It is suggested that the algorithm developed empirically using scores on the NeuroTrax computerized battery can be a useful tool for assessing effort. This algorithm should resist threats to its validity and can be automatically computed while assessing a range of cognitive skills.
Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences
"Background: Physical exercise is known to produce numerous psychological beneficial effects in h... more "Background: Physical exercise is known to produce numerous psychological beneficial effects in healthy and clinical populations. Nevertheless, little is known about the relationship between exercise and ADHD symptoms, let alone amongst adults with ADHD. This study examines the association between exercise and three ADHD symptoms: (1) behavioral impulsivity; (2) intrusive unwanted thoughts and (3) worry. The latter two are cognitive facets of anxiety, a prominent symptom of ADHD.
Methods: Physical activity was measured using a self-report questionnaire. Thirty participants with a diagnosis of ADHD were divided into two groups: Participants engaging in frequent aerobic activity ('high activity' group), and participants engaging in non-frequent physical activity ('low activity' group).
Results: Adults with ADHD engaging in frequent aerobic physical activity report significantly less behavioral impulsivity and experience significantly less worrisome and intrusive thoughts.
Conclusions: Our results reflect an association between physical activity and reduced symptoms of impulsivity and intrusive and worrisome thoughts in an adult ADHD sample. The results of this pilot study may encourage further investigations emphasizing the causal link between physical activity and ADHD symptoms. Suggested underlying neurobiological mechanisms, clinical implications and limitations are discussed.
"
The Pavlovian journal of biological science
More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when ... more More than two-thirds of an unselected sample of 34 college students reported mild headaches when told that a (nonexistent) electric current was passing through their heads. These reports appeared independent of whether the instructions emphasized the headache-producing effect of the current or whether the emphasis was on a perceptual task, with headache as only a possible side effect. The results are consistent with a view of pain as localized stress. They provide additional grounds for the suspicion that clinical focusing on pain may itself be a cause of pain.
Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 2012
The most effective tests for detection of negative response bias (NRB) are based on the forced ch... more The most effective tests for detection of negative response bias (NRB) are based on the forced choice paradigm, but patients coached prior to their administration may easily discern their purpose. Algorithms for NRB detection based upon parameters from standard neuropsychological tests may be more difficult for patients to discern and thus more effective in detecting NRB. The current study aimed
PLoS ONE, 2012
Background: Recent findings suggest that executive function (EF) plays a critical role in the reg... more Background: Recent findings suggest that executive function (EF) plays a critical role in the regulation of gait in older adults, especially under complex and challenging conditions, and that EF deficits may, therefore, contribute to fall risk. The objective of this study was to evaluate if reduced EF is a risk factor for future falls over the course of 5 years of follow-up. Secondary objectives were to assess whether single and dual task walking abilities, an alternative window into EF, were associated with fall risk.
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Books by Avraham Schweiger
Whitehead claimed that “to sustain a civilization with the intensity of its first ardour requires more than learning. Adventure is essential, namely, the search for new perfections” (Adventures of Ideas, 258). Since humility is—more than ever—urgently needed in scholarship, we have chosen to qualify our conceptual adventure as a search for new contrasts, thus invoking an essential Whiteheadian concept. As the reader will have already understood, contrast does not mean here contention, or strife, or even comparison between fields that are essentially foreign to each other; it means emphasizing the complementariness of differences and the promotion of synergies.
"
Foreword, Franz G. Riffert and Michel Weber
List of Contributors
Introduction. Reconnecting Science and Metaphysics: General Considerations and Pioneer Works on Process-Psychology, Franz G. Riffert and John B. Cobb, Jr.
Part I. Neurophysiology
Value in Mind and Nature, Jason W. Brown
Consciousness, Whitehead and Quantum Computation in the Brain: Panprotopsychism Meets the Physics of Fundamental Space-Time Geometry, Stuart Hameroff
Consciousness: The Brain’s Private Psychological Field, Marcel Kinsbourne
The Common Origin of Perception and Action: A Process Perspective, Avraham Schweiger
Part II. Psychology
Whitehead's Faculty-Psychology, Jean-Claude Dumoncel
Psychology Moves Towards Whitehead, John Pickering
On Scientific Confirmation of Causal Efficacy, Franz G. Riffert
What is Called “Feeling”?—Lure and Certainty in Whitehead and Descartes, Pierre Rodrigo
The One and the Many. Reflections on Whitehead’s notion of Personal Identity, Luca Vanzago
Part III. Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy in Process, John B. Cobb, Jr.
The Promise of Process Psychology, David E. Roy
The Universality of Impermanence, C. R. F. Sherlock
The Art of Epochal Change, Michel Weber
Part IV. Philosophy of Mind
A Psychology for the Ecosystem, Liliana Albertazzi
Mind as Process, Mark H. Bickhard
Direct Realism in Perception and Memory, Peter Farleigh
Untangling “Self,” “Person,” and “I”, David Galin
Whitehead and the Revival (?) of Panpsychism, William Seager
Psychology and Physics Reconciled: Whitehead’s Vision of Metaphysics, Anderson Weekes
Critical Apparatus
General Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Names
Detailed Table of Contents
Papers by Avraham Schweiger
Methods: Physical activity was measured using a self-report questionnaire. Thirty participants with a diagnosis of ADHD were divided into two groups: Participants engaging in frequent aerobic activity ('high activity' group), and participants engaging in non-frequent physical activity ('low activity' group).
Results: Adults with ADHD engaging in frequent aerobic physical activity report significantly less behavioral impulsivity and experience significantly less worrisome and intrusive thoughts.
Conclusions: Our results reflect an association between physical activity and reduced symptoms of impulsivity and intrusive and worrisome thoughts in an adult ADHD sample. The results of this pilot study may encourage further investigations emphasizing the causal link between physical activity and ADHD symptoms. Suggested underlying neurobiological mechanisms, clinical implications and limitations are discussed.
"
Whitehead claimed that “to sustain a civilization with the intensity of its first ardour requires more than learning. Adventure is essential, namely, the search for new perfections” (Adventures of Ideas, 258). Since humility is—more than ever—urgently needed in scholarship, we have chosen to qualify our conceptual adventure as a search for new contrasts, thus invoking an essential Whiteheadian concept. As the reader will have already understood, contrast does not mean here contention, or strife, or even comparison between fields that are essentially foreign to each other; it means emphasizing the complementariness of differences and the promotion of synergies.
"
Foreword, Franz G. Riffert and Michel Weber
List of Contributors
Introduction. Reconnecting Science and Metaphysics: General Considerations and Pioneer Works on Process-Psychology, Franz G. Riffert and John B. Cobb, Jr.
Part I. Neurophysiology
Value in Mind and Nature, Jason W. Brown
Consciousness, Whitehead and Quantum Computation in the Brain: Panprotopsychism Meets the Physics of Fundamental Space-Time Geometry, Stuart Hameroff
Consciousness: The Brain’s Private Psychological Field, Marcel Kinsbourne
The Common Origin of Perception and Action: A Process Perspective, Avraham Schweiger
Part II. Psychology
Whitehead's Faculty-Psychology, Jean-Claude Dumoncel
Psychology Moves Towards Whitehead, John Pickering
On Scientific Confirmation of Causal Efficacy, Franz G. Riffert
What is Called “Feeling”?—Lure and Certainty in Whitehead and Descartes, Pierre Rodrigo
The One and the Many. Reflections on Whitehead’s notion of Personal Identity, Luca Vanzago
Part III. Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy in Process, John B. Cobb, Jr.
The Promise of Process Psychology, David E. Roy
The Universality of Impermanence, C. R. F. Sherlock
The Art of Epochal Change, Michel Weber
Part IV. Philosophy of Mind
A Psychology for the Ecosystem, Liliana Albertazzi
Mind as Process, Mark H. Bickhard
Direct Realism in Perception and Memory, Peter Farleigh
Untangling “Self,” “Person,” and “I”, David Galin
Whitehead and the Revival (?) of Panpsychism, William Seager
Psychology and Physics Reconciled: Whitehead’s Vision of Metaphysics, Anderson Weekes
Critical Apparatus
General Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Names
Detailed Table of Contents
Methods: Physical activity was measured using a self-report questionnaire. Thirty participants with a diagnosis of ADHD were divided into two groups: Participants engaging in frequent aerobic activity ('high activity' group), and participants engaging in non-frequent physical activity ('low activity' group).
Results: Adults with ADHD engaging in frequent aerobic physical activity report significantly less behavioral impulsivity and experience significantly less worrisome and intrusive thoughts.
Conclusions: Our results reflect an association between physical activity and reduced symptoms of impulsivity and intrusive and worrisome thoughts in an adult ADHD sample. The results of this pilot study may encourage further investigations emphasizing the causal link between physical activity and ADHD symptoms. Suggested underlying neurobiological mechanisms, clinical implications and limitations are discussed.
"