ON THE SPECTRUM

Spectrum is a wonderful word. Whilst musing on the qualities of spectrum I pondered lightly on the following thoughts:

Pamela Moiseiwitsch has proposed that certain characters one comes across in daily life can be described as being on the spectrum. There is much to endorse this method of taxonomy. Indeed the word (from the Latin spectare – to observe) denotes a range or scale of associated ideas or objects that appear to overlap. It is generally applied to colours, which brings up a particular neurological condition known as synaesthesia, which Pamela has, This ‘condition’ involves the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leading to automatic, involuntary experiences in a secondary sensory or cognitive pathway, In Pamela’s case, she sees names as colours, that is to say combinations of letters and numbers are seen as colours. She is very good assigning colours to people’s names.

How someone with synesthesia might perceive certain letters and numbers.

There is, in respect of mental disorders, a spectrum approach. This spectrum can represent a range of severity, comprising relatively "severe" mental disorders through to relatively "mild and nonclinical deficits". I believe most of us can be described as having mild non clinical deficits. That is not the same as being one sandwich short of a picnic, although a spectrum approach can be applied to the number of sandwiches one lacks short of a picnic. Dealing with these mild deficits is encompassed within the purview of the cognitive therapist or applied behaviour analyst.

It is suggested that behaviour analysts focus on the observable relationship of behaviour to the environment to the exclusion of what they call ‘hypothetical constructs’. By functionally assessing the relationship between a targeted behaviour and the environment, the methods of ABA (Applied behavior analysis) can be used to change that behaviour. Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying mental activity. Perception, learning, problem solving, reasoning, thinking, memory, attention, language and emotion are areas of research.

A hypothetical construct is an explanatory variable which is not directly observable. For example, the concepts of intelligence and motivation are used to explain phenomena in psychology, but neither is directly observable. A hypothetical construct differs from an intervening variable in that it has properties and implications which have not been demonstrated in empirical research. These serve as a guide to further research. An intervening variable, on the other hand, is a summary of observed empirical findings.

Getting back to colours:

Just one more: