Justice for the Professional Guinea Pig

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) remains a controversial technique, one that has elicited a variety of regulatory responses throughout the world. On March 29, 2005, Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act came into force. This law prohibits a number of research activities, including SCNT. Given the pluralistic nature of Canadian society, the creation of this law stands as an interesting case study of the policy-making process and how and why a liberal democracy ends up making the relatively rare decision to use a statutory prohibition, backed by severe penalties, to stop a particular scientific activity. In this article, we provide a comprehensive and systematic legal analysis of the legislative process and parliamentary debates associated with the passage of this law.     

The Startle Pattern in Infants in Response to Non-Auditory Stimuli

Abstract

Goldstein, K. Human Nature in the Light of Psychopathology. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1940. Pp. 258 Reviewed by Frederick Wyatt. Reviewed by Frederick Wyatt

Katona, G. Organizing and Memorizing. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1940. Pp. 318. Reviewed by Livingston Welch     

脑干诱发电位在言语感知研究中的应用

脑干诱发电位是一种考察听觉脑干加工声音信号时神经活动的非侵入性技术, 近年来被广泛用于探索言语感知的神经基础。相关研究主要集中在考察成年人和正常发展儿童语音编码时脑干的活动特征及发展模式, 探讨发展性阅读障碍及其他语言损伤的语音编码缺陷及其神经表现等方面。在已有研究的基础上进一步探索初级语音编码和高级言语加工之间的相互作用机制, 考察阅读障碍的底层神经基础将成为未来该技术在言语感知研究中应用的重点。     

情绪干扰听觉反应冲突的ERP研究

采用ERP技术研究13例正常青年人在声音诱发的不同情绪条件下,对反应抑制加工过程的影响,并试图阐明其潜在脑机制。实验中选择正、中、负三种声音各50种,作为诱发情绪的刺激材料。结果发现Go条件下的反应时在负性、中性、正性条件下依次减短;Go与Nogo刺激均诱发出显著的N1成分,中性条件下波幅显著大于正负性情绪条件。此外,三种情绪背景下, Nogo刺激诱发出显著的N2与P3成分。Nogo-N2主要分布在头皮前中部,在Fz点波幅最大。Nogo-P3主要分布在头皮中部,Pz点波幅最大。中性条件下Nogo-N2波幅显著大于负性与正性条件,而正性和负性之间差异不显著。行为结果表明,听觉负性情绪诱发对反应执行有干扰作用;ERP结果表明声音诱发的情绪对早期听觉选择性注意具有调节作用。听觉情绪诱发对反应抑制加工过程有显著影响,且该影响在早期反应冲突监控阶段最为明显。     

Studies of the Startle Pattern: IV. Infants

Individual versus group risk taking was examined by using a novel set of industrial product purchasing situations as stimuli. The set incorporated situations that varied along a dimension called “normative risk.” Situations represented either low-normative risk, medium-normative risk, or high-normative risk. Normative risk was defined in a decision theoretical context. The set was administered to introductory business students at a large university in the United States. The results of the study showed that groups were not invariably riskier than individuals; rather the amount of risky shift following group discussion was negatively related to the level of normative risk. This overall conclusion held true also in relation to the degree of perceived riskiness of the situations, since a positive relationship between normative risk and perceived risk was established. The theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Studies of the Startle Pattern: II. Bodily Pattern

The effects of two different faking instructions on Orientation Inventory scores were investigated in five groups of university students. The faking sets tended to produce increased scores on task orientation and decreased scores on self orientation. Changes in interaction orientation scores were inconsistent. Results were compared with those obtained earlier by Bass.     

Response Scatter in Measuring Changing-Loudness Aftereffects: Evidence for Simplified Processing of Auditory Motion-in-Depth and Potential Collision

Researchers have postulated 2 mechanisms for processing auditory motion: a direct mechanism processing motion itself and an indirect mechanism sensitive to location over discrete points in time. Measuring aftereffects of azimuthal motion by nulling entails scattered responding, which is attributed to a conflict between direct and indirect mechanisms. In this experiment, the author obtained nulls following adaptation to changing sound level, a property of approaching or receding sound sources, and for nonadaptation. Test stimuli ranged in duration from 1.0 to 2.5 s. Longer test stimuli evinced reductions in both changing-loudness aftereffects and the associated response scatters. However, the latter matched the nonadaptation response scatters. The author suggests that judging longer test stimuli is easier, so an indirect mechanism need not be invoked. Simplified processing of changing sound level may underlie the rapid responses required for potential collision.     

飞行中惊吓和惊奇的管理——拓展的Landman模型

在飞行活动中,飞行员的惊吓和惊奇反应是导致飞行失控的重要因素。惊吓和惊奇反应可能使飞行员熟练训练过的操作程序和技能被遗忘,取而代之的是不适当的直觉性的行为或草率的决策。现有的使用飞行模拟器的研究表明,Landman模型对减轻飞行员惊吓和惊奇的训练有重要价值。在Landman模型的基础上,我们加入了飞行员心理能力的个体间差别（即拓展的Landman模型）,因此拓展的Landman模型对于飞行员的选拔和训练将具有重要意义。     

Electrophysiologic Manifestations of Impaired Temporal Lobe Auditory Processing in Verbal Auditory Agnosia

The present study examined the extent to which verbal auditory agnosia (VAA) is primarily a phonemic decoding disorder, as contrasted to a more global defect in acoustic processing. Subjects were six young adults who presented with VAA in childhood and who, at the time of testing, showed varying degrees of residual auditory discrimination impairment. They were compared to a group of young adults with normal language development matched for age and gender. Cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to tones and to consonant-vowel stimuli presented in an "oddball" discrimination paradigm. In addition to cortical ERPs, auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and middle latency responses (MLRs) were recorded. Cognitive and language assessments were obtained for the VAA subjects. ABRs and MLRs were normal. In comparison with the control group, the cortical ERPs of the VAA subjects showed a delay in the N1 component recorded over lateral temporal cortex both to tones and to speech sounds, despite an N1 of normal latency overlying the frontocentral region of the scalp. These electrophysiologic findings indicate a slowing of processing of both speech and nonspeech auditory stimuli and suggest that the locus of this abnormality is within the secondary auditory cortex in the lateral surface of the temporal lobes.