Relative absence of neuropsychological deficit in patients with low grade astrocytomas

Given the current accuracy and precision of modern brain imaging technology, there is presumed to be little utility in neuropsychological assessment procedures in patients with brain tumors. The primary exposure of many clinical neuropsychologists to patients with brain tumors is during their training, in the form of didactic classroom activities, such as reviewing the brain tumor cases of early investigators in the field. Historically, these brain tumors were the more aggressive and destructive tumors, such as grade III and IV astrocytomas, that could be identified with pre CT and pre MRI technology. With current imaging technology, low grade tumors that might previously have gone undiagnosed for years can be detected and patients followed over time. This series of cases represents documentation of the very unique neuropsychological status of patients with relatively slow growing, infiltrative brain tumors classified as grade II astrocytomas. The potential relevance of neuropsychological assessment for such cases is discussed.     

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgicencephalomyelitis as a twentieth-century disease: analytic challenges

The challenges of chronic fatigue syndrome (often called myalgic encephalomyelitis, especially in the UK) (CFS/ME) to analytical and medical approaches are connected with our inability to understand its distressing somatic symptoms in terms of a single identifiable and understandable disease entity. The evidence for the roles of viral aetiologies remains inconclusive, as does our understanding of the involvement of the immune system. The history and social context of CFS/ME, and its relation to neurasthenia and psychasthenia are sketched. A symbolic attitude to the condition may need to be rooted in an awareness of psychoid levels of operation, and the expression and spread of CFS/ME may sometimes be aided by the ravages of projective identification. Psychic denial, sometimes violent, in sufferers (especially children and adolescents) and their families may be important in the aetiology of CFS/ME. We draw out common threads from psychodynamic work with five cases, four showing some symptomatic improvement, analytic discussions of three cases being presented elsewhere in this issue of JAP.     

Rumor and Prediction: Making Sense (but Losing Dollars) in the Stock Market

It is proposed that by making sense of unpredictable price movements, rumors spawn anti-regressive predictions and adversely affect trading decisions despite investor denigration of rumors. Two experimental stock market simulations investigated these ideas. Subjects were presented with news (Study 1) and published and unpublished rumors (Study 2) while participating in a computerized investment game. As compared with controls, all manipulations caused departures from a profitable buy-low-sell-high (tracking) trading strategy despite strong differences in rated credibility between types of information source. Subjects claimed that rumor sources were non-credible and that they were not influenced by rumors in trading decisions; nevertheless they traded on rumors as though they were news. Results integrate rumor theory with the psychology of prediction, extend the corpus of rumor literature to behavior, and highlight the sense-making function of rumor in situations filled with uncertainty.     

Binocular rivalry with moving patterns

Binocular rivalry between a horizontal and a vertical grating was examined in six experiments. The gratings could be presented in a static form or dynamically so that either one or both gratings moved. The motion consisted of a symmetrical transformation of the gratings about their centers, so that the lines moved outwards or inwards. During rivalry, a moving pattern was visible for about 50% longer than an equivalently oriented static pattern (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). When both gratings were in motion (Experiments 3 and 5), the course of rivalry was similar to that found for two static gratings. The duration of dominance of the moving grating was influenced by its velocity (Experiment 6). The results are interpreted in terms of the stimulus strengths of the static and dynamic patterns.     

Return to Ithaca: A perspective on marriage and love in post traumatic stress disorder

This paper discusses the interactive effects of character development, love in marriage, and the stress pathology in the Vietnam War combatant. Over years of treating Vietnam veterans and their spouses, the authors have observed common patterns of interstructural or intercharacterological meshing between the Vietnam warrior and his wife. Implications for treatment are discussed along with useful intervention strategies.     

Evaluation of a brief work chore discipline procedure

Response cost procedures with adolescents in residential treatment have been widely used to discipline a variety of coercive behaviors. Unfortunately, token loss systems require a comprehensive token system for implementation. Brief work chores were evaluated as a possible substitute. Adolescent negative evaluations of peers (“rude talk”) were targeted for reduction. A multiple baseline across settings design plus uncontrolled group data collected across baseline, treatment, and follow-up phases indicated that brief work chores suppressed negative evaluations. Use and limitations of work chore discipline procedures are discussed.