Residual differences in language processing in compensated dyslexics revealed in simple word reading tasks

Using regional cerebral blood flow as an index of cerebral activity we studied dyslexic and control subjects during simple word reading tasks. The groups were pre-tested for reading skill and the dyslexic group had a lower reading performance but could read and comprehend standard texts. The aim was to elucidate differences in the cerebral activation pattern during reading. The tasks were simple enough that performance differences between the groups could be excluded. We found specific differences between the two groups that were dependent on the language task. When the visual route for language information was used, minor qualitative differences were found between the groups pertaining to the dominant hemisphere. Increasing the complexity of the task by using pseudowords activated the left frontal region more in the dyslexic group than in the control group. A similar effect was seen in a minor region in extrastriate lateral occipital cortex (BA 19). This finding indicates that the dyslexics used areas in these regions that the controls did not. On the other hand, the dyslexics activated less in the right angular gyrus, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and in the right pallidum. Reading skill correlated with the level of activity in the right frontal cortex. We conclude, that cerebral activation pattern elicited by reading is different in dyslexics compared to controls in spite of an almost complete functional compensation.     

Long-term motor programming improvements occur via concatenation of movement sequences during random but not during blocked practice

According to S. T. Klapp (1995, 1996), extensive practice serves to induce the concatenation of multiple-element responses. One benefit of the chunking process, argued Klapp, is more efficient execution of motor programming. The authors conducted the present study with 30 participants to investigate that proposition. The chunking process was found to be very transient following some practice regimes. Specifically, compared with exposure to random practice, extensive blocked practice resulted in only temporary movement sequence consolidation. The present results provide support for the claim that random practice not only leads to improvements in the completion of intratrial movement planning processes but also affects the structure of the memory developed during practice. Both components are important contributors to long-term improvements in movement preparation associated with a high contextual-interference practice condition.     

The Psychology Graduate Applicant’s Portal (www.psychgrad.org)

Applying to graduate school in psychology can be an intimidating process. Many obstacles must be overcome, such as applying to a program appropriate to the specific applicant, getting good GRE scores, submitting a clear and well-written statement of purpose, and obtaining letters of recommendation, to name just a few. Much information is available to assist applicants in these tasks, but finding this information can cause problems even for experienced Internet users. The goal of this project is to create an easily accessible Web clearing house of information on applying to graduate school in psychology. This Web site, called the Psychology Graduate Applicant’s Portal (or PsychGrad.org), contains targeted links to other Web pages with valuable information, book recommendations on the application process, polls to measure issues important to the graduate applicants, site-unique advice on graduate programs, a message board to exchange information and experiences, and other information relevant to the application process.     

Asking an eyewitness to predict their later lineup performance could harm the confidence–accuracy relationship

Few studies have investigated eyewitnesses' ability to predict their later lineup performance, known as predecision confidence. We applied calibration analysis in two experiments comparing predecision confidence (immediately after encoding but prior to a lineup) to postdecision confidence (immediately after a lineup) to determine which produces a superior relationship with lineup decision accuracy. Experiment 1 (N = 177) featured a multiple-block lineup recognition paradigm featuring several targets and lineups; Experiment 2 featured an eyewitness identification paradigm with a mock-crime video and a single lineup for each participant (N = 855). Across both experiments, postdecision confidence discriminated well between correct and incorrect lineup decisions, but predecision confidence was a poor predictor of accuracy. Moreover, simply asking for predecision confidence weakened the postdecision confidence–accuracy relationship. This implies that police should exercise caution when interviewing eyewitnesses, as they should not be asked to predict their ability to make an accurate lineup decision.     

An Application of Psychoanalysis to Education by Richard M. Jones

Abstract

This report describes a psychosocial therapy group for Parkinson’s patients, focusing on the therapeutic processes arising when group members and therapist share the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. The paper explores the question, “What is the therapeutic effect on the group when the therapist suffers and displays the same illness as members of the group” ? Countertransference issues are described.     

Effects of chronic non-clinical depression on the use of positive and negative words in language contexts

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic non-clinical depression (ChD) on the use of ambiguous and unambiguous emotional words in language contexts. Participants with ChD and normal non-depressed (ND) participants' responses to positive and negative stimulus words on a free association word test were compared using the Hyperspace Analogue to Language (HAL) model of memory's context density metric, a measure of the range of contexts in which a word is used in language. ChD participants generated negative words that were used in more restricted contexts than ND participants. However, ND and ChD participants used positive words in a similar range of contexts. The results suggest that people with ChD tend to use negative words that are probably more negative in connotation, yet they are not impaired with respect to using words in contexts where positive words are required.     

An aerosol spray alternative to cigarette smoking in the study of the behavioral and physiological effects of nicotine

For studies of the behavioral and physiological effects of nicotine in smokers, delivery of nicotine via cigarette smoking is highly variable and difficult to control. A more precise method of delivery is needed in order to accurately manipulate the amount of nicotine being presented and, thus, to determine its quantitative effects. The objective of the study reported here was to test an aerosol nasal-spray method of delivering measured doses of nicotine. Eleven healthy males were presented 0 mg (placebo), 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg, and 2.0 mg of nicotine over 5 min during four separate sessions, and changes were observed in plasma nicotine concentration and cardiovascular activity. Dose-response relationships were observed between nicotine presented via this method and plasma nicotine, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and, to a lesser extent, diastolic blood pressure. These results suggest that this aerosol spray method of presenting nicotine provides the measured doses necessary for quantification of nicotine’s effects.     

Producing high-dimensional semantic spaces from lexical co-occurrence

A procedure that processes a corpus of text and produces numeric vectors containing information about its meanings for each word is presented. This procedure is applied to a large corpus of natural language text taken from Usenet, and the resulting vectors are examined to determine what information is contained within them. These vectors provide the coordinates in a high-dimensional space in which word relationships can be analyzed. Analyses of both vector similarity and multidimensional scaling demonstrate that there is significant semantic information carried in the vectors. A comparison of vector similarity with human reaction times in a single-word priming experiment is presented. These vectors provide the basis for a representational model of semantic memory, hyperspace analogue to language (HAL).     

Sleep arrangements and night waking at 6 and 12 months in relation to infants' stress‐induced cortisol responses

The objective of this short‐term longitudinal study was to examine the concurrent and prospective associations of infants' sleep arrangements and night waking with cortisol responses to an inoculation at 6 and 12 months, controlling for several key covariates. To our knowledge, this was the first study to concurrently and prospectively link proximity in sleep arrangements and night waking to physiological stress reactivity. A sample of 92 mother–infant dyads participated in the study when the infants were 6 and 12 months of age, although sample sizes were reduced for some analyses. Both proximal cosleeping arrangements and more frequent night wakings' were associated concurrently with an increased cortisol response to inoculations at both ages. Night waking at 6 months also was associated with a slightly increased cortisol response to inoculation at 12 months. Results aimed at exploring the direction of influence suggested that cosleeping and night waking may influence infant stress physiology rather than the reverse. Adaptive and maladaptive implications of infants' nocturnal experiences and greater stress‐induced cortisol responses are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.