As we examine the patterns of supplementary parenting described in this volume, we could lose sight of certain biological imperatives that shape the structures of family life and, thus, parent-child relationships. Similarily, our perspective on the significance of these explorations of supplementary parenting might be distorted if we were to ignore the social context that has given rise to them.

I would like to address myself first to the cornerstones of psychoanalytic inquiry, namely, anxiety, transference, and resistance. Specifically, the typical pattern is that under the impetus of anxiety, the individual often utilizes the transference in order to act out the resistance. In like fashion, we now know and understand that this experience of the patient is often met by the counteranxiety, the countertransference, and the counterresistance of the analyst. What then takes place in the arena of psychoanalysis is inextricably woven and interwoven in a combined interaction between patient and analyst. Who is influencing whom, at any given moment, in what direction, to what end, as a function of that interaction? This is what may be referred to as the psychology of “shared experience’” (Wolstein, 1971). I will return to this idea shortly.

Under zero gravity, the gravitational cues to mass are removed, but the inertial cues remain. A sensation of heaviness is generated if objects are shaken, and hence given a changing acceleration. A magnitude estimation experiment was conducted during the 0-G phase of parabolic flight and on the ground, and the results suggested that objects felt lighter under 0 G than under 1 G. Mass discrimination was also measured in flight, and yielded Weber fractions of .18 under 0 G, .16 under 1.8 G, and .09 under I G. Poor performance under microgravity and macrogravity was probably due mainly to lack of time for adaptation to changed G levels. It is predicted that discrimination should improve during the course of prolonged spaceflight, and that there should be an aftereffect of poor discrimination on return to earth.

At a recent meeting of medical scientists at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva it was noted that the proportion of women engaged in scientific work varies greatly in different countries. In some places they form a large part of the effective work-force engaged in science teaching and research, while in other parts of the world there are practically no women scientists at all. The absence of women scientists is especially evident in some of those regions where health standards are low and the need for scientists is greatest. Further progress in preventive medicine, as in many other fields, depends to an increasing extent on the availability of scientists and technicians able to carry out investigations using modern scientific techniques. There is still a vast amount of suffering in the world due to factors such as malnutrition which could be prevented if more trained scientists were available in the areas where they are needed, and if the standard of scientific education of the general population could be raised.

In 1922, Uno noted that rats, following a six hour period of excitement, exhibited an increase in the weight of the pituitary gland. His finding led him to conclude that the pituitary gland is involved in the responsiveness of the organism to changes in the environment. In a whole series of subsequent experiments begun in 1936, Selye explored further components of this system of responsiveness to adverse environmental shifts. He observed that numerous conditions, such as surgical injuries, chronic pain and inflammation, drug administration and immobilization, caused an enlargement of the adrenal glands with an accompanying loss of lipids from the adrenal cortex. This reaction, which he called the “stress response” or “general adaptation syndrome”, requires the presence of hypothalamic centers and the pituitary gland for the release of the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH).

Rats were implanted unilaterally with electrodes placed in either the dorsal hippocampus or the mesencephalic reticular formation. Subgroups were given either zero or six preexposure trials to a tone that was subsequently paired with a footshock. An additional group of dorsal hippocampal animals was given 12 preexposure trials. Test performance indicated that all groups given preexposure trials, with the exception of the dorsal hippocampal group given six such trials, showed latent inhibition. A second experiment suggested that the disruption of latent inhibition in the dorsal hippocampal animals given six preexposure trials was not due to seizure activity. The implications of these results are discussed.