Left sidedness and sleep difficulty: the alinormal syndrome

Four indexes of laterality: handedness, footedness, eyedness, and earedness, were assessed in a sample of 1274 subjects. Left- and right-sided groups were compared on two aspects of self-reported sleep difficulty: trouble falling asleep and frequent night wakenings. The incidence of sleep difficulty was found to be elevated in the left-sided groups. The results are discussed in terms of a possible complex of behavioral deviations from the statistical norm, called the alinormal syndrome.     

Correlations between glucose metabolic rates in brain regions of healthy male adults at rest and during language stimulation

This study examines the effect of different behavioral conditions on patterns of correlation between regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose. Cerebral glucose metabolism was determined with positron emission tomography and (11C)-deoxyglucose in 29 normal subjects between the ages of 23 and 55. Seventeen subjects were studied in an unstimulated (resting) condition and 12 subjects during a phoneme monitoring language stimulation. Partial correlation coefficients, controlling for whole brain glucose metabolism, were calculated for pairs of metabolic rates in 14 cortical and 2 subcortical regions. Both stimulated and unstimulated subjects showed statistically significant correlations between left and right hemisphere homologs. The stimulated subjects also showed significant within-hemisphere correlations between left but not right hemisphere regions. These included left perisylvian regions classically associated with language functions (left inferior frontal, left superior temporal and left transverse temporal cortical regions) as well as other regions. Significant correlations between left regions and a right superior temporal region were also found. In general, these findings show a pattern of cross-hemisphere symmetry at rest and of hemisphere asymmetry during stimulation. Moreover, the asymmetry observed during stimulation appears to be superimposed upon a pattern of cross-hemisphere symmetry similar to that observed in the unstimulated state.     

Spatial constraints on attention to speech in the blind

When sighted persons try to identify one of two speech utterances coming from different directions, they display both a frontal position advantage, i.e., better recognition of inputs from the front than of those from the rear, and a right-side advantage, better recognition of inputs from the right than of those from the left. The present study demonstrates a dissociation of the two effects in blind subjects (N = 10) who showed no frontal position advantage together with a right-side advantage superior to that of control sighted subjects (N = 16). There was no systematic difference between congenitally blind subjects and noncongenitals. The absence of frontal position advantage in the blind is consistent with the notion that this effect originates in the habit of sighted listeners to orient toward the source of heard speech. The occurrence of at least normal right-side advantage in the blind does not support recent suggestions of reduced lateralization of language functions in such subjects.     

Anomalous dominance in sibling stutterers: Evidence from CT scan asymmetries, dichotic listening, neuropsychological testing, and handedness

Two left-handed siblings with developmental stuttering are comprehensively described. The methods of study included speech and language evaluation, neurological and neuropsychological examinations, dichotic listening, auditory evoked responses, electroencephalogram, and CT scan asymmetry measurements. The data from each sibling showed evidence of anomalous cerebral dominance on many of the variables investigated. The CT scan measurements showed atypical asymmetries, especially in the occipital regions. These findings support the theory that stuttering may be related to anomalous cerebral dominance, both on functional as well as structural bases. Implications of anomalous dominance and the resultant effect of hemispheric rivalry on speech fluency are discussed.     

Work site group meetings and the effectiveness of a televised smoking cessation intervention

At the work site, smoking accounts for increased health care expenses and worker absenteeism due to smoking-related illness and reduced productivity and lost wages. Developing comprehensive and accessible smoking cessation programs at the work site is an important objective for health care professionals. In this study, employees of 43 corporations participated in a televised smoking cessation program accompanied by self-help manuals. The media component involved presenting a smoking cessation program on a network television affiliate station during the 4:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. news for 20 days. Employees at half the corporations also had access to semiweekly self-help group meetings. Adding self-help support groups to a program involving self-help manuals and the media reports was found to significantly increase abstinence and its maintenance over time. The implications of using the media, self-help groups, and work site locations in large-scale community-based interventions are discussed.     

Teacher ratings of children's problem and competence behaviors: Normative and parametric characteristics

Teacher-rated adjustment differences among young elementary school children from (a) a recent sample and a 1974 cohort, and (b) urban/suburban, male/female, and grade-level subgroups were examined. A problem behavior checklist (Classroom Adjustment Rating Scale) and a school competence measure (Health Resources Inventory) for 974 children from 5 urban and 5 suburban schools were completed by 101 first- to fourth-grade teachers. Children from the more current cohort were rated as significantly more maladjusted than those from the earlier sample on 8 of 10 adjustment variables. In the recent sample, girls and suburban children evidenced a greater number of school competencies and fewer problem behaviors than boys and urban children, respectively. The implications of these findings for the future use of the teacher rating scales are discussed.