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affect modulable

English translation: affective mobility

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:affect modulable
English translation:affective mobility
Entered by: medeast

14:13 Jun 13, 2012
French to English translations [PRO]
Medical - Psychology
French term or phrase: affect modulable
I am translating some chart notes concerning a 25-year-old patient diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and who attempted suicide. At one point, the physician writes "Affect modulable, congruent et réactif". Could "modulable" be "flexible" here? Thanks for your help.
medeast
Local time: 12:53
affective mobility
Explanation:
affective mobility/responsiveness/modulation intact (in other words, the patient is able to react appropriately to emotional stimuli)
Selected response from:

Anne Schulz
Germany
Local time: 18:53
Grading comment
Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1approprie
Michele Lemaire
3 +2affective mobility
Anne Schulz
4flexibility of affect
B D Finch
3 -1labile affect
Altrum
Summary of reference entries provided
modularity in cognitive science
Nikki Scott-Despaigne

Discussion entries: 11





  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
labile affect


Explanation:
Seems the most likely

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudobulbar_affect

Altrum
Italy
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Michele Lemaire: Labile veut dire 'instable, qui change tout le temps' et est en contradiction avec les autres qualificatifs, 'congruent' et 'reactif'
7 mins
  -> I thought "congruence" (as in mood congruence) referred to the correspondence between mood and behaviour. So this would be appropriate for someone who has just attempted suicide. This might also help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_dysregulation
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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
approprie


Explanation:
Contact affectif approprié, coherent et reactif. Cette personne bien qu'ayant une personalite borderline, n'est pas dans un etat psychotique.


Michele Lemaire
Local time: 12:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Appropriate - I think moduler means "adjust to the circumstances".
2 hrs
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
flexibility of affect


Explanation:
books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0470484055...Eric Y. Drogin, Frank M. Dattilio, Robert L. Sadoff - 2011 - Law - 824 pages
"She also shows flexibility of affect by laughing appropriately and responding to various stimuli in an appropriate manner. She indicates that she had been taking ..."

discovery.ucl.ac.uk/8650/1/8650.pdf
by RP Hobson - 2005
"... flexibility of affect, from 0 either little or no ability to shift flexibly among affective states, with watchfulness, fearfulness, or “cut- off” affect or abrupt swings from one ..."

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Note added at 37 mins (2012-06-13 14:51:35 GMT)
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I think this grammatical form is used more in English, rather than "flexible affect" because the flexibility is seen more as an active attribute of the person.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 18:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 15

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: "modularity of affect" exists as a notion in the field of cognitive science, see my discussion posts above.//Modularity of mind, modularity of affect has a particular sense in cognitive psycho. See the discussion posts.
48 mins
  -> I think you might find "modularity of affect" has more to do with computing systems and programs used in cognitive science.//i.e. not appropriate for this context.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
affective mobility


Explanation:
affective mobility/responsiveness/modulation intact (in other words, the patient is able to react appropriately to emotional stimuli)


Anne Schulz
Germany
Local time: 18:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: This one makes sense : adaptability, appropriateness.//Agree with you on the use of "approriate" for "congruent".
1 hr
  -> Thank you, Nikki. (IMO, 'appropriate' could rather be used for the 'congruent' part of the phrase.)
agree  John Holland: I agree, also. From Wikipedia at http://ur1.ca/9hyn1 : "Mobility refers to the extent to which affect changes during the interview: the affect may be described as mobile, constricted, fixed, immobile or labile."
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, John.
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Reference comments


2 hrs
Reference: modularity in cognitive science

Reference information:
« There is the notion that the brain contains a certain number of modules, each having a special way of operating such that it is dedicated only to a particular task. This is known as modularity (Fodor, 1985). Modules are described as ‘ecapsulated’, meaning that they can act with autonomy from processing elsewhere in the CNS. According to the modularity view, both types of processes, encapsulated modules and general-purpose central processing, exist and serve complementary roles in adptive cognition and behavior”.

Toates, F., Biological Psychology, Pearson Education, Lippincot Wliimans & Wilkins, 2007, Second Edition, p.491


“Modularity : the notion that certain cognitive processes (or regions in the brain) are restricted in the type of information they process”.

Ward, J., The Student’s GIode to Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, p.14


By way of information about the notion of modularity in cognitive psychology, a notion initiated by Fodor and not necessarily that well supported. In relation to emotion in this context, it may be the sense being attributed to "affect" here.

The doctor may alos be using the perfectly ordinary meaning of modular, changeable, variable. Choice of term could lead to a positive or negative slant being given so a neutral term may be best.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 46
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