Selected parameters of response organization in mildly mentally retarded children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of response organization on reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) of mildly mentally retarded children. Two groups of 30 subjects each were formed: a retarded group 9 yr. of age and a normal group matched for chronological age. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three precued conditions in which they were told that the forthcoming response would be performed with the right or left hand (precue hand), be to the right or left side (precue direction), or cross or not cross the body midline (precue midline). The retarded group performed significantly more slowly than the normal group on both RT and MT. Both groups, however, were able to utilize precued hand information as opposed to other precued variables, indicating that knowing which hand to use is important when organizing responses.     

Lateral asymmetry in visual detection under hypnosis

It has been suggested that the hypnotic state results in a greater relative activation or priming of the right cerebral hemisphere than of the left hemisphere. The experiment reported here employed hypnosis to produce such a priming effect in a visual-detection task. Subjects were required to detect the presence or absence of a gap in outline squares presented either to the left visual field or right visual field, with response time as the primary dependent measure. Those subjects who were hypnotized produced a 50-msec. response time difference favoring squares presented to the left visual field whereas control subjects and simulator-control subjects showed no lateral asymmetries. The result is classified as a material-nonspecific priming effect and discussed with regard to the nature of processing resources.     

References for motor tasks--gender differences across age in motor performance: a meta-analysis

In 1985 we published a meta-analysis of gender differences across age in motor performance in Psychological Bulletin, but it did not include an indexing of each motor task to the references from which it was obtained. This paper provides a table listing the 20 motor tasks and the references from which data for each task were taken. The range of tasks was from fundamental movements (e.g., catching, jumping, running, throwing) to motor fitness (e.g., agility, arm hang, balance, grip strength) to perceptual-motor abilities (e.g., anticipation timing, fine eye-motor coordination, pursuit-rotor tracking, reaction time). The arm hang was represented in the fewest papers (n = 2) while the dash and long jump were most frequently referenced (n = 21).     

Interhemispheric integration of compound nouns: effects of stimulus arrangement and mode of presentation

Normal subjects had to name German compound nouns which were presented tachistoscopically. The compound nouns were displayed either unilaterally to the left or right visual field or bilaterally with one element to each visual field. In the bilateral condition a distinction was made as to whether familiar or unfamiliar arrangement of the elements was used. Representation in print was compared with pictorial representation of the compound nouns. A right visual-field superiority was observed with printed representation, but no laterality effects with pictorial representation. Bilateral processing was superior to unilateral processing. Within the bilateral conditions, the familiar arrangement of the elements yielded a significantly better performance than unfamiliar arrangement. This difference can be explained by reading habits and/or by different styles of interhemispheric integration.     

Midline and off-midline tongue and right- and left-hand vibrotactile thresholds of stutterers and normal-speaking individuals

Vibrotactile thresholds for 7 male stutterers and 7 normal-speaking men (age range for both groups = 19 to 32 yr.) were obtained from the right, midline, and left sides of the lingual dorsum, and the thenar eminences of both hands. The stutterers showed slightly higher (less sensitive) mean thresholds than the normal speakers for all three lingual test sites. This was not the case for the thresholds obtained from both hands. The preliminary data suggest that oral peripheral sensory integrity might be somewhat different for stutterers than for normal-speaking individuals.     

Handedness and dementia

Some researchers have speculated that left-hand dominance is more prevalent among patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer's type which began prior to age 65 yr. and that, in those patients, the disease runs a more rapid course. In the present study, seven left-handed dementia patients were matched with seven right-handed dementia patients on the basis of age and years of education and were compared with regard to neuropsychological compromise. While the left-handed group was somewhat more impaired than the right-handed subjects, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.     

ALTERNATIVE WORK SCHEDULES: TWO FIELD QUASI-EXPERIMENTS

In the first ( N = 140) of two quasi-experimental field studies, trial group employees were changed from a 5/40 to a 4/40 work schedule for four months then returned to a 5/40 schedule. In a second study ( N = 102), trial group employees were changed from 5/40 to flextime. Reactions were evaluated using a model for understanding the impact of work schedules. The effects of schedule changes matched those anticipated by pre-intervention surveys of employees. Factors related to organizational effectiveness were enhanced where specific organizational needs were met. Interference with personal activities was reduced where employees had experienced specific difficulties. The most powerful effect, however, was on worker attitudes toward specific work schedules. In addition, a mild positive (perhaps Hawthorne) effect was evident for a wide range of general worker reactions.     

Specific temporal-lobe signs and enhanced delayed cross-modal matching performance

Structural damage to the amygdala severely retards delayed cross-modal (tactile-to-sight) matching in primates. Conversely, we hypothesized that people who display signs suggestive of specific temporal lobe lability should show enhanced delayed cross-modal matching performance. The hypothesis was supported. In a single experiment involving 25 subjects, significant negative correlations obtained between the numbers of errors on the cross-modal matching task and numbers of affirmative responses within clusters of items that contained themes of meaningfulness, religious beliefs or ictal, complex partial epileptic (limbic) states. On the other hand, the numbers of errors were not significantly correlated with either clusters of control items or items that are presumed to reflect the function of other temporal-lobe structures. Both matching and questionnaire data were collected under double-blind conditions.     

The Effects of Flavor-Aversion Learning on Instrumental Performance

Two experiments investigated the role of lithium-mediated environmental conditioning on instrumental performance. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a novel taste consumed in one arm of a T maze prior to lithium-induced toxicosis reduced performance in this environment whereas similar aversions conditioned in the home cage failed to alter maze performance. Experiment 2 showed that maze performance in a straight alleyway was decremented during extinction only in a group that actually traversed the alley prior to drinking saccharin and receiving lithium injections. This demonstrated that the instrumental decrement observed in Experiment 1 was due not only to the presence of an unpalatable flavor in the goalbox during the test.