ABNORMAL EYE MOVEMENTS
Thank you for the fascinating article “Shifting Focus,” by Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik. As a schizophrenic, I imagine that many patients have abnormal microsaccades, meaning that when they follow a target or scan a display their eye movements are accentuated. Perhaps these eye movements explain the phenomenon of the schizophrenic’s “mad look.”
Greg Westlake
Norfolk, England

MARTINEZ-CONDE AND MACKNIK REPLY: No previous research has examined the connection between microsaccades and schizophrenia—or any other psychiatric illness. But there has been extensive work showing that people with schizophrenia do indeed have abnormal saccades, the fast eye movements that direct our gaze from object to object as we explore a visual scene. According to neurologists R. John Leigh and David Zee, authors of the comprehensive The Neurology of Eye Movements (Oxford University Press, 1999), schizophrenics show consistent abnormalities in the voluntary control of saccades, particularly in tasks requiring imagination, memory or prediction.

Research suggests that saccades and microsaccades are controlled by the same brain areas, so it seems likely to us that microsaccades also will be found to be abnormal in schizophrenia. Only directed research will provide a definitive answer to this fascinating question.

STORYTELLING
“In the Minds of Others,” by Keith Oatley, was an excellent summation of the impact of stories on social skills. This concept has been particularly applicable to the summer camp I run, which allows campers to engage in an interactive storyline with outcomes that change depending on their decisions. We have noticed a high degree of altruistic acts among our kids while they interact with other characters—perhaps because fiction can increase a person’s level of empathy, as the article describes.

Human beings have been learning from stories since the brain could grasp fictional concepts. Oral traditions may have evolved into predominately audiovisual or text format, but we still connect on a deeper level with the person who can weave a well-worded story. (Politicians have known this for quite some time.) Shouldn’t the educational system embrace this concept? If our summer camp can teach chemistry, history, foreign languages, and more using interactive fiction, I think schools can use stories to better reach their students and engage them in learning.
Meghan Gardner
Director, Wizards & Warriors Camp
Burlington, Mass.

MANY FACES OF GRIEF
I am a great fan of Scientific American Mind, but as someone who has worked with the bereaved for more than 20 years, I was dismayed by your article “Grief without Tears,” by Hal Arkowitz and Scott O. Lilienfeld [Facts and Fictions]. The authors extrapolate from a particular subset of bereaved people—elderly widows and widowers—to the general population. To equate the predictable loss of a spouse in old age with, for example, the untimely loss of a parent in childhood is cavalier at best, dangerously irresponsible at worst.

One child in five is likely to develop a psychiatric disorder following a parental death. Parental bereavement in childhood has been robustly linked to impaired academic performance, higher rates of teenage pregnancy and drug and alcohol abuse, as well as a range of mental health disorders as adults. Most children and teenagers will experience anxiety, depression and social withdrawal in the first two years after a major loss. Even when distress is not permanent, it is still real and painful and bewildering for the child.

2 Comments

1. 1. JamesDavis 04:59 PM 4/1/12

   In defense of preschool: The best way for a small child to learn is play while they learn and learn while they play. A child retains more when they hear, see, say, and experience learning first hand. This is especially true for preschool children; that is why it is important that the teacher is a well qualified preschool teacher who is very familiar with this form of teaching and learning. It is a well known fact, by all the best teachers who teach small children, that preschool children learn best when they are outside where they can experience what the teacher is presenting to them.

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2. 2. DrLPalmer 03:26 AM 4/4/12

   Please get Montessori straight. Misunderstandings of Montessori are universal. Three stages take place in a Montessori lesson where the teacher sits down with an individual pupil and demonstrates/teaches the proper use of a didactic tool (activity) and the self-correcting aspects of the materials. 1. "This is..." (names and explains). 2. Teacher tests knowledge by asking or telling open-ended sentence fragment, "Which is...? (Recognition: child points to or selects). 3. Teacher asks or otherwise cues response, "What is...? (recall). Children, while demonstrating amazing attention and concentration while engaging with activities in the highly prepared classroom, are NOT playing in the usual sense of doing whatever the choose to do. In fact, the Montessori teacher removes the child or material if it is not used appropriately. The child may not use the material for purposes other than what is intended to be taught at a particular stage using the prepared teaching tool. The didactic materials are designed to teach explicit understandings through appropriate repetition of construction or arrangement. Each of the materials is taught directly to each child individually to the point that the child can take the materials and complete the activity to completion and self-satisfaction. Without knowing the complete description of the criteria in the article, I suspect that the authors equated incidental learning and free play with preschool practice and that viewpoint, while common, is incorrect. PreSCHOOL teaches and practices fundamental concepts as foundations for more advanced steps in curricular sequences. Playful approaches may be different from "play" and careful definition leads to clarity and deeper understanding of professional practice.
   Even preschool literature is read for the purpose of modeling problems, behavior, and morals. Classroom materials are tools for teaching something explicit. Otherwise, play is just pastime wandering. Pretend play is valuable because it exercises fantasy and visualization. Recognizing the different types of play is essential for teachers so that development can be noticed and encouraged.
   Lyelle Palmer, Ph.D., Winona State Univ.(Emeritus).

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