Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) causes difficulty recognizing familiar faces, but little is known about which stage(s) of the face-processing system difficulties occur, or whether these are identical in all DP cases. Twenty DPs and matched controls completed six face perception tasks. The DP group performed significantly poorer than controls on face detection and gender categorization tasks and on a global (averaged) face perception measure. 40% of individual DPs showed significant impairments on tasks not involving identity perception (face detection and categorization, age and gender categorization). By contrast, 50% showed broadly typical face perception and thus support for the idea of apperceptive (affecting both face perception and face memory) and mnemonic (affecting only face memory) subtypes of DP. Intraclass correlations revealed clear inter- and intra-individual differences, confirming that data from a single perceptual task cannot be taken as evidence of broader face-perception ability spanning beyond the results of that test..

Music, besides its emotional and social resonance, models a complex sensory environment exemplifying auditory objects corresponding to sources (musical instruments) and information streams (melodies). These musical dimensions can be variably preserved or blighted by neurodegenerative disease. Music is, therefore, an attractive way to investigate the neural mechanisms of sensory object processing in these diseases. Here, we assessed the functional neuroanatomy underlying the perceptual, semantic, and apperceptive processing of musical objects in Alzheimer's disease and temporal variant frontotemporal dementia. We studied 35 patients (20 Alzheimer's disease, 15 temporal variant frontotemporal dementia; 14 females; mean [standard deviation] age 70.3 [8.4] years) in relation to 25 cognitively healthy volunteers (16 females; age 69.5 [6.8] years). In a functional MRI experiment with sparse image acquisition to minimise the impact of scanner noise, participants passively listened to monophonic melodies. We varied timbre (same/change), timbre familiarity (natural/artificial instruments), melody familiarity (familiar/novel), and apperception (melodies with interpolated timbre changes); these manipulations allowed us to assess the functional neuroanatomical correlates of musical feature perception, melody familiarity, constancy, novelty, and instrument familiarity. Behavioural correlates were assessed in post-scan tasks and disease-related atrophy patterns using voxel-based morphometry of participants' structural scans. All contrasts were assessed at P < 0.05, corrected for multiple voxel-wise comparisons within pre-specified anatomical regions of interest. For timbre change perception, all participant groups demonstrated comparable temporo-parietal cortical activation anchored in planum temporale. For melodies, processing of semantic familiarity in all participant groups engaged a common network including supplementary motor area and inferior frontal gyrus, with reduced supplementary motor area activation in the Alzheimer's disease group compared with other groups, while melody novelty comparably engaged postero-medial cortical circuitry across groups. Apperceptive coding of melody constancy was associated with activation of the posterior superior temporal cortex in the healthy volunteers, but greater activation of the temporal polar cortex in the temporal variant frontotemporal dementia group than in healthy volunteers. For instrument familiarity, the temporal variant frontotemporal dementia group showed reduced activation of the temporal polar cortex, but increased activation of the anterior insula compared to healthy volunteers. Brain activation profiles were not influenced by behavioural performance on post-scan tasks and did not coincide with regional atrophy. Our findings delineate complex, differentiated functional neuroanatomical profiles of musical object processing in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia, with implications for our understanding of the neural mechanisms that decode complex sensory environments and the design and evaluation of interventions in these diseases.

In this essay, I read Seth Holmes and Maya Ponte's work on "en-casement" alongside Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason to argue that faculties of biomedical apperception cultivated through clinical training are symptomatic of an orientation to sensational experience developed within Enlightenment philosophy. Characterized by the negation of subjectivity, en-casement is an expression of the anti-Black tendency to dehumanize and dominate the other in ways that render the biomedical paradigm of healing impotent with regard to the redress of Black suffering. I problematize narrative medicine as an intervention to resist en-casement by drawing on Afropessimism to elaborate limits and failures derivative from its assumptive logic of a free, agentive, autonomous, and sovereign subject capable of dramatizing suffering. Insofar as paradigmatic social death renders Blackness as a site of absolute dereliction on the level of the Symbolic, Black suffering is aporetic to narrative in ways that make even the humanist intervention no less impotent as a mode of redress. Given that the totalizing violence of anti-Blackness forecloses the redress of Black suffering within humanist paradigms of healing writ large, from the biomedical to the narrative, I consider the unmet demand for ante-anti-Black forms of care from the framework of abolition medicine.

We thank Stein et al. (2026) and Jenkins (2026) for their commentaries on our critical review of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global system as applied to the Thematic Apperception Test (Sinclair et al., 2023) and appreciate the opportunity to respond in kind. Although we acknowledge the considerable effort put into these response articles (analytically and conceptually), both fall short in addressing the myriad serious methodological and procedural concerns we raised in 2023 and do little to move the needle in support of this assessment technique. This article will review the many ways these responses misinterpret and misrepresent our original review and the voluminous methodological problems with the "meta-analyses" that are presented by Stein et al.-and the various ways they are statistically confounded, confusing, and scientifically unsound. Further, this article will highlight the considerable number of logical inconsistencies that are inherent within Stein et al.'s core arguments, as well as the numerous contradictions between Stein et al. and Jenkins-all of which seriously undermine the methodology itself. Given the many ethical ambiguities that arise as a result, we conclude with a repeat calling for a moratorium on this methodology until these issues are sufficiently resolved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Sinclair et al.'s (2023) recent critique of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scales-Global rating as used in clinical practice initiated a methodological conversation about its application to Thematic Apperception Test stories. Their critique included assertions about thematic apperceptive techniques more generally, such as the importance of standardization; normative data; psychometric approaches to validity and reliability; and cross-cultural generalizability. Since they cited two articles by me in some detail, not always accurately, I respond here with a discussion of the differing assumptions underlying narrative assessment methods, as compared to ability tests and structured self-report inventories, that I argue reflect differences in methodological worldviews and are supported by a history of empirical evidence. Those different assumptions shape construct conceptualization, response processes, score interpretation, sources of error variance, applicability of psychometric criteria used for more structured assessment methods, and the role of culture in the assessment process. Narrative methods require more suitable approaches to data collection, score interpretation, and evaluation of results than are available using normative tables and classical test theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Narrative assessment procedures have a rich tradition in psychology and have been widely employed for clinical and research purposes. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) and the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global Rating Method (SCORS-G) have been widely used for eliciting and coding narratives for psychological assessment. Recently, a critical review by Sinclair et al. (2023) asserted that there is insufficient evidence for the use of the SCORS-G in clinical settings, calling for a moratorium on its use. However, their critical review was limited in scope, did not include evidence counter to their position, nor did it acknowledge counterarguments previously presented by TAT experts. We address their concerns around standardization practices, reliability, validity, and clinical utility. In this comment, several meta-analyses assessing the reliability of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale/TAT were conducted. There were no significant differences in reliability between single versus average intraclass correlation coefficients, between Pearson's r and intraclass correlation coefficients, or between earlier versions of this scale. Good to excellent ranges were consistently found using three different benchmarks. Administration practices and the validity of this rating system were substantiated. Finally, we highlighted how the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale/TAT interpretative process mirrors Evidence-Based Practices in Psychology (American Psychological Association, 2021), Professional Practice Guidelines in Psychological Assessment (Krishnamurthy et al., 2022), and free response measures (Meyer et al., 2015). When examining all available data, there is sufficient evidence to support that the SCORS-G is best used clinically when integrated with other data. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Mature defense mechanisms support patients' engagement in psychotherapy. The Overall Defensive Functioning (ODF) scale of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Defensive Functioning Scale (DFS) is a measure of the maturity of patients' defenses. Immature defenses (e.g., splitting) and poor emotion regulation are hallmarks of borderline personality organization, and both can interfere with positive treatment engagement. We predicted that ODF would significantly and negatively correlate with the Personality Assessment Inventory Borderline (PAI-BOR) scales, PAI Treatment Rejection (PAI-RXR) scale, and the PAI Treatment Process Index (PAI-TPI). To our knowledge, no studies have examined the relationship between ODF scores, as measured by the DFS rating of Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) narratives, and defense levels, PAI-BOR Full Scale (PAI-BOR-FS), PAI-RXR, and PAI-TPI scales. The sample included 73 outpatients from an academic hospital. Patients were administered the PAI and a TAT protocol. Two psychologists independently rated 40 TAT protocols with the observer-rated DFS for reliability. Healthy defenses showed significant negative correlations with PAI-BOR-FS (r=-.27), PAI-BOR Negative Relationships (PAI-BOR-N) (r=-.38), and PAI-RXR (r=.30). The pathological defenses had positive correlations with four of the five PAI-BOR scales and the PAI-TPI. There were significant correlations between ODF and the treatment related scales, PAIRXR (r=.37, p<.01) and PAI-TPI (r=-.32, p<.01). ODF significantly and negatively correlated with the PAI BOR-FS (r=-.36, p<.01) and its subscales, Affective Instability (r=-.35, p<.01) and Negative Relationships (r=-.39, p<.01). High and low ODF groups had significant and meaningful differences on all seven PAI scales. Overall, these findings provide support for the construct validity and clinical utility of the DFS defense levels (healthy, neurotic, and pathological) and the global ODF.

Language disturbances are central features of serious mental illnesses, yet traditional clinical assessments often rely on subjective evaluation that may overlook subtle speech anomalies. This study employs natural language processing (NLP) to objectively analyze spontaneous speech in a transdiagnostic sample comprising individuals with affective (n = 119 Major Depressive Disorder, n = 27 Bipolar Disorder) and psychotic disorders (n = 37 Schizoaffective Disorder, n = 11 Schizophrenia), as well as healthy controls (n = 178). Participants provided approximately 12 min of speech elicited via four pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test, which were transcribed and analyzed for semantic and syntactic features. Explorative factor analysis identified three latent linguistic dimensions: (1) Syntactic Complexity, (2) Lexical Diversity and Fluency, and (3) Narrow Thematic Focus. These dimensions were differentially associated with clinical ratings of formal thought disorder and neuroanatomical measures obtained through structural and diffusion-weighted MRI. Notably, Syntactic Complexity and Lexical Diversity correlated with decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in frontotemporal white matter tracts, while Narrow Thematic Focus was linked to reduced gray matter volume in the right posterior insula. Importantly, these associations persisted after controlling for diagnosis, medication status, and verbal IQ. These findings suggest that NLP-derived speech metrics can serve as sensitive indicators for language dysfunction in psychiatric conditions, offering a scalable approach to elucidate brain-behavior relationships and advance models of psychopathology.