Effect of socioeconomic status on aphasia severity and recovery

Low levels of educational attainment and low socioeconomic status have been significantly linked to poor health and increased incidence of disease, including Alzheimer's disease and diseases of the cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, and gastrointestinal systems. Our goal in the present study was to determine the degree to which educational level and socioeconomic status influence initial severity of aphasia and subsequent recovery. We evaluated the records of 39 persons with aphasia twice: at about 4 months and 103 months postonset. We found early severity of aphasia to be significantly greater for subjects in the lower educational and occupational groups. However, rate of recovery (the slope of the recovery curve) was the same regardless of educational or occupational status.     

Intrahemispherical activation,visuomotor transmission,and the Simon effect: comment on Wascher et al. (2001)

On the basis of 3 experiments E. Wascher, U. Schatz, T. Kuder, and R. Verleger (2001) concluded, "The variety of tasks subsumed under the term Simon effect turned out to be heterogeneous" (p. 749). This comment critically evaluates the validity of their conclusion by considering their hypotheses methodology, specific conclusions, and proposed broader implications. Although the Simon effect is a behavioral phenomenon, E. Wascher et al. relied heavily on physiology in hypothesis generation, methodology, and interpretation of results. Moreover, methodological differences from most previous studies, combined with limited statistical support, nonreplication of previously reported behavioral phenomena inconsistencies in results across experiments, and evidence against a contribution of intrahemispherical activation by visuomotor pathways, strongly suggest that their conclusion should be viewed with caution.     

The validity and appropriateness of methods, analyses, and conclusions in Rind et al. (1998): A rebuttal of victimological critique from Ondersma et al. (2001) and Dallam et al. (2001).

The authors respond to 2 victimological critiques of their 1998 meta-analysis on child sexual abuse (CSA). S. J. Dallam et al. (2001) claimed that B. Rind, P. Tromovitch, and R. Bauserman (1998) committed numerous methodological and statistical errors, and often miscoded and misinterpreted data. The authors show all these claims to be invalid. To the contrary, they demonstrate frequent bias in Dallam et al.'s criticisms. S. J. Ondersma et al. (2001) claimed that Rind et al.'s study is part of a backlash against psychotherapists, that its suggestions regarding CSA definitions were extrascientific, and that the moral standard is needed to understand CSA scientifically. The authors show their suggestions to have been scientific and argue that it is Ondersma et al.'s issue-framing and moral standard that are extrascientific. This reply supports the original methods, analyses, recommendations, and conclusions of Rind et al.     

Assessment of ADHD symptoms: comment on Gomez et al. (2003)

R. Gomez, G. L. Burns, J. A. Walsh, and M. A. de Moura (2003) examined the degree to which parent and teacher ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are accounted for by trait, source, and error variance. The importance and limitations of Gomez et al.'s findings are discussed in the context of clinical and research assessments of children suspected of having ADHD. Gomez et al.'s findings make clear that multimethod and multisource assessment protocols should be used in diagnosing children with this disorder. Further, clinicians and researchers must avoid relying too heavily on 1 source of data when evaluating the severity and frequency of ADHD symptoms.     

Evolving science in adolescence: comment on Ellis et al. (2012)

Ellis et al. (2012) bring an evolutionary perspective to bear on adolescent risky behavioral development, clinical practice, and public policy. The authors offer important insights that (a) some risky behaviors may be adaptive for the individual and the species by being hard-wired due to fitness benefits and (b) interventions might be more successful if they move with, rather than against, the natural tendencies of an adolescent. Ellis and colleagues criticize the field of developmental psychopathology, but we see the 2 fields as complementary. Their position would be enhanced by integrating it with contemporary perspectives on dynamic cascades through which normative behavior turns into genuinely maladaptive outcomes, dual processes in adolescent neural development, and adolescent decision making. Finally, they rightly note that innovation is needed in interventions and policies toward adolescent problem behavior.     

Depression, autonomic function, and cardiorespiratory fitness: comment on Hughes, et al. (2010)

A recent paper by Hughes and colleagues suggested that dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system in depressed cardiac patients was partly explained by reduced physical activity and fitness. Other data demonstrate that exercise training and improvements in fitness not only lead to improvements in autonomic function in coronary patients but also reduce depression and depression-related increased mortality.     

Handedness and drawing: attempting to complete the picture: a comment on Bruckner, et al. (2011)

In a recent study, Bruckner, Kastner-Koller, Deimann, and Voracek (2011) investigated the relationship between hand preference and drawing during preschool years. The present study offers interpretations in a larger framework which could contribute to the better understanding of that relationship, and provides future directions in this area.     

Supernumerary phantoms: a comment on Grossi, et al.'s (2002) spare thoughts on spare limbs

A recently published case report of a supernumerary phantom limb in a man with left-sided hemiplegia did not take note that this phenomenon has been extensively documented in the neurological literature for well over 100 years. The present comment provides a brief introduction to the clinical and experimental approaches to supernumerary phantom limbs. It also emphasizes the theoretical importance of this condition for understanding the neurological mechanisms subserving the experience of having a body.     

Intellectual disabilities and developmental EEG transition to alpha band: a comment on Shibagaki, et al. (2006)

In 2006 Shibagaki, et al. estimated mean chronological age at which dominant EEG frequency reached alpha band in 11 children with intellectual disabilities (M age, 15 yr.). Consistent with previous studies, the results showed a delay in the critical age relative to healthy children and earlier maturation at posterior scalp sites, with the exception of several children who persistently showed EEG slower than alpha band. A flaw in the study might be that having only 2 children younger than 10 yr. was insufficient. A remaining problem for researchers would be to identify whether the developmental delay in EEG correlates with IQ in intellectually disabled children.     

The validity of dietary restraint scales: comment on Stice et al. (2004)

In 4 empirical studies, E. Stice, M. Fisher, and M. R. Lowe calculated the correlations between some widely used dietary restraint scales and food intake. Failing to find substantial negative correlations, they concluded that these scales were invalid. The current article challenges this conclusion. For one thing, there is some evidence that restrained eaters do eat less than do unrestrained eaters under controlled experimental conditions favoring self-control. Dietary restraint is also associated with tendencies toward disinhibition under conditions favoring loss of self-control; such disinhibition often masks (but does not invalidate) the construct of dietary restraint. For these and other reasons, the assessment of food intake at a single eating episode may not capture overall dietary restriction. Finally, how much one eats does not necessarily indicate whether one has eaten less than one desired to eat. The authors suggest that the existing restraint scales do in fact validly assess restriction of food intake, albeit in a more complex fashion than is evident from simple correlations in single episodes.     

Mediated and convergent lexical priming in language production: a comment on Levelt et al. (1991)

Levelt et al. (1991) argued that modular semantic and phonological stage theories of lexical access in language production are to be preferred over interactive spreading-activation theories (e.g., Dell, 1986). As evidence, they show no mediated semantic-phonological priming during picture naming: Retrieval of sheep primes goat, but the activation of goat is not transmitted to its phonological relative, goal. This research reconciles this result with spreading-activation theories and shows how the absence of mediated priming coexists with the convergent priming necessary to account for mixed semantic-phonological speech errors. The analysis leads to the proposal that the language-production system may best be characterized as globally modular but locally interactive.     

An evaluation of a computational model of lexical access: comment on Dell et al. (1997)

The computational model of lexical access proposed by G. S. Dell, M. F. Schwartz, N. Martin, E. M. Saffran, and D. A. Gagnon (1997) is evaluated. They argued that fits of their model to naming data obtained from normal and brain-damaged patients support assumptions regarding interactivity in the lexicon, global damage in aphasia, and continuity between normal and aphasic naming behavior. Additional analysis reveals that the model fits the empirical data poorly and that the claims Dell et al. made on the basis of the model's performance would not follow even if the model were accurate. Although use of a novel automatic regression procedure improved the model's fit, it cannot account for 5 of Dell et al.'s 21 patients (24%), and its limitations were found to be inherent in its design. It is argued that claims such as those made by Dell et al. can only be addressed by considering evidence from multiple related tasks and by comparing multiple computational models.