The efficacy of progressive relaxation in systematic desensitization and a proposal for an alternative competitive response--the relaxation response.

The theoretical basis of systematic desensitization is reciprocal inhibition in which an alternative, competitive response to anxiety is conditioned to arousal-producing, phobic stimuli. Abbreviated training in progressive relaxation is believed to serve as a competitive response to anxiety by decreasing autonomic nervous system activity. However, physiologic studies of progressive relaxation have not substantiated that its practice is associated with such decreased autonomic activity. Consequently, the use of progressive relaxation has been a confounding factor in the determination of the function of reciprocal inhibition in systematic desensitization. To confirm and refine the theoretical constructs of reciprocal inhibition, it is necessary to test the effects of a response which is competitive to the anxiety response. Such a response may be the relaxation response which is characterized by physiologic changes consistent with decreased autonomic nervous system activity. Derived from meditational practices, techniques which ehcit the relaxation response incorporate the element of focused attention which has been implicated as a critical factor in systematic desensitization. Thus, the use of the relaxation response should be a more appropriate method than progressive relaxation if the therapeutic usefulness of systematic desensitization is indeed due to reciprocal inhibition.     

Sequencing of vocational development stages: Further studies

This paper reports two studies which support the prediction derived from Hershenson's (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1968, 15, 23–30) life-stage vocational development model that average scores on Self-differentiation (worker self-concept and motivation) would exceed those on Competence (work habits, skills, and interpersonal relations), which in turn would exceed those on Independence (appropriateness and crystallization of vocational goals). The first study involved ratings by project staff on an inner city, socially disadvantaged population, and the second study involved self-ratings by individuals who had changed occupations in midcareer. Findings are consistent with those reported by Hershenson and Langbauer (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1973, 20, 519–521) on a population of deaf clients.     

Dissociations of language function in dementia: A case study

In this report we describe and attempt to characterize the deterioration in semantic knowledge occurring in a victim of a progressive dementing disease. The subject was unable to match even highly familiar naming words with their actual or pictured referents; instead, she consistently overextended verbal labels to closely associated distractors. The alteration in scope of referential meanings suggested by this overextension effect was apparently related to a breakdown in the structure of underlying categories. On a nonverbal match-to-sample procedure, for example, dogs were treated as exemplars of the cat family. Evidence for the breakdown of semantic knowledge was not limited to picture labeling paradigms. Thus, we found that the subject was unable to utilize semantic context in the written disambiguation of spoken homophones but could, at the same time, use even minimal syntactic cues as the basis for proper lexical selection. This last result was consistent with other lines of evidence pointing to the relative preservation of syntactic operations, in marked contrast to the semantic loss. The importance of this dissociation of function in organic pathology is considered from a number of perspectives, including its relevance to models of language organization in the brain.     

Auditory phonemic perception in dyslexia: Categorical identification and discrimination of stop consonants

The possibility that phonological confusions may underlie some difficulties in processing written language was investigated using four speech perception tasks. Twelve dyslexic and four normal-reading children identified and discriminated synthetic speech syllables which varied either in voice-onset time (signaling the feature of voicing) or direction of formant transitions (signaling place of articulation). Results indicate that, like normal-reading children and adults, dyslexic children perceive these sounds categorically. Discrimination of the stimuli was limited by their identifiability. It is suggested that linguistic disturbances at other stages of the grapheme to meaning transformation underlie misreading.     

A case of subcortical dementia due to sarcoidosis of the hypothalamus and fornices

A patient with sarcoidosis involving predominantly the hypothalamus and fornices was evaluated for dementia. He showed a relative sparing of fund of knowledge and orientation. Memory skills, particularly short-term memory, were severely impaired. Behavioral changes included apathy and a lack of spontaneity. Insight was relatively preserved. The pattern of his deficits showed some similarities to the pattern reported in patients with Huntington's disease and was different from that described in Alzheimer's disease. The dementia caused by subcortical pathology may differ in important respects from that caused by diffuse cortical dysfunction.     

Longitudinal neuropsychological report of aphasia following left-subcortical hemorrhage

The neuropsychological assessments of a patient with language disturbance following left thalamic-putaminal hemorrhage over a $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{-}\text{year}$ period are presented together with premorbid measures of performance. Findings indicate that behavioral deficits which are both linguistic and nonlinguistic in nature differ from cortical aphasic syndromes in symptomatology and recovery course. The deficit pattern is also unlike that in other reported cases of left-subcortical lesions. Persistent dysarthria with fluent speech, limitation of verbal span and repetition, agraphia and anomia, and disturbances in self-regulation of behavior were noted, in addition to recovery of an initially severe auditory comprehension deficit. A distinguishing feature of this case was the relative preservation of reading comprehension in all four assessments.     

Influence of aging on recovery from aphasia in polyglots

We analyzed patterns of recovery, according to the rules of Pitres [1895, Revue de Medecine (Paris), 15, 873–899] and Ribot (1881, Les Maladies de la Memoire, Paris: Libraire Germer Baillere et Cie, pp. 146–147), in polyglot aphasics divided into subgroups by age. The rule of Ribot did not apply predictably for any age group. Pitres' rule clearly applied, but only for the nonelderly groups. Aging and its concomitant deterioration of recent memory seem to influence patterns of recovery from aphasia in polyglots.     

A structural determinant of hemispheric processing of pictorial material

A qualitative difference of processing type by the two cerebral hemispheres was demonstrated in a picture arrangement task which involved a concept of temporal sequence. Half the sequences were designed to rely on analytic categorical processes and half on configurational processes. The subjects were patients with unilateral hemispheric damage of vascular etiology. Using two measures of performance, latency and errors, patients with right hemisphere damage were seen to be relatively impaired on those sequences designed to employ hypothesized right hemisphere (configurational) processing and patients with left hemisphere damage were seen to be relatively impaired on those sequences designed to employ hypothesized left hemisphere (categorical) processing.     

Shift of visual field preference for Hebrew words in native speakers learning to read

Lateralization for Hebrew words was tested in both the visual and auditory modalities in Israeli children learning to read their native language, Hebrew. A left visual field preference for tachistoscopically presented words was found in the second graders in contrast to a right visual field preference for the same words in the third graders. Children in both grades showed a right ear dominance for similar words presented dichotically. These data suggest right hemisphere involvement in acquiring reading skills of a native language.     

Social loafing: Allocating effort or taking it easy?

When asked to work both alone and in groups, people exert less effort in groups, a phenomenon we call “social loafing.” Either of two possible strategies could explain this outcome: an allocational strategy where people work as hard as they can overall but conserve their strength for individual trials where work is personally beneficial and a minimizing strategy where the primary motive is to “get by” with the least effort possible. However, an allocational strategy would lead participants who always work in groups to put out as much effort as participants who always work alone, since there is no need to husband strength. Two studies using a sound production task found social loafing even under these conditions, suggesting that allocational strategies are not prevalent. Social loafing seems to occur when people perform together in groups, regardless of whether or not they must also perform alone.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in the perception of musical intervals as a function of musical experience and family handedness background

This study examines the effect of musical experience and family handedness background on the categorization of musical intervals (two-note chords). Right-handed subjects, who were divided into four groups on the basis of musical training and presence (or absence) of left-handed family members, categorized musical intervals which were monaurally presented to left or right ear. The results, based on consistency and discreteness of categorization, showed: (1) Musicians' performance is superior to nonmusicians'; (2) musicians and nonmusicians differ significantly on their ear of preference; (3) family handedness background significantly affects ear of preference among musicians but not among nonmusicians.     

The relation between gesture and language in aphasic communication

Effective communication in aphasia depends not only on use of preserved linguistic capacities but also (and perhaps primarily) on the capacity to exploit alternative modalities of communication, such as gesture. To ascertain the capacity of aphasic patients to use gesture in their spontaneous communication, informally structured interviews were conducted with two Wernicke's aphasics and two Broca's aphasics, as well as with four normal controls. The performances of the patient groups were compared on the physical parameters of gesture, the points in the communication where gestures occurred, and several facets of the semantics and pragmatics of gesture. Generally speaking, the gestures of the aphasics closely paralleled their speech output: on most indices, the performance of the Wernicke's aphasics more closely resembled that of the normal controls. Wernicke's aphasics differed from normals in the clarity of their language and gestures: While individual linguistic units were often clear, the relation among units was not. In contrast, the Broca's aphasics equaled or surpassed the normal controls in the clarity of their communications. The results offer little support for the view that aphasic patients spontaneously enhance their communicative efficacy through the use of gesture; these findings can, however, be interpreted as evidence in favor of a “central organizer” which controls critical features of communication, irrespective of the modality of expression.     

Semantic aphasia: A neglected entity

Three cases of semantic aphasia are reported. Computerized brain tomography showed bilateral temporo-parieto-occipital junction hemorrhages in one patient, and left parieto-occipital junction infarctions in the other two patients. The auditory comprehension defect of the three patients was characterized by preserved understanding of single words and impaired understanding of grammatically complex constructions. It is suggested that this comprehension defect reflects an inability to fully grasp the meaning of words and grammatical constructions imbued with spatial or quasi-spatial significance. Each of the three patients showed a complex spatial disorder that included constructional apraxia, spatial agnosia, and elements of Gerstmann's syndrome. The aphasic as well as the spatial disorder of semantic aphasics may be manifestations of a common defect in the perception of spatial relationships produced by left temporo-parieto-occipital region damage.     

The role of the right hemisphere in the apprehension of complex linguistic materials

To secure information on which aspects of linguistic functioning might be mediated by the nondominant hemisphere, a test battery assessing sensitivity to narrational and humorous materials was administered to a population of right-hemisphere-damaged patients, as well as relevant control groups of normal, aging, and aphasic individuals. While elementary linguistic functioning was adequate, the right-hemisphere-injured groups exhibited consistent difficulties in respecting the boundaries of a fictive entity, assessing the plausibility of elements within a story or joke, selecting the appropriate punch line for a joke, and integrating elements of a story into a coherent narrative. Certain elements—specifically emotional content and noncanonical facts injected into a narrative—also posed characteristic difficulties for these patients. The results suggest that, in contrast to the other populations, right-hemisphere patients exhibit special difficulties in processing complex linguistic entities and in utilizing the surrounding context as they assess linguistic messages.