Anxiety, perception, and control of heart rate

8 women and 8 men took Cattell's IPAT-anxiety questionnaire and later McFarland's test of ability to perceive heart activity. The second test involved subjects' tracking their own heart rates, then they enrolled in an EKG biofeedback session to evaluate ability to increase and decrease heart rate from subjects' resting baselines. At the end of the session each subject completed Blanchard, et al.'s questionnaire to specify the cognitive strategies used for heart-rate control. Heart rate, abdominal respiration rate, respiration amplitude, EEG percent power in theta, alpha, and beta bands were evaluated. Success of heart-rate decrease seemed to depend mainly on activity levels: the subjects who achieved high scores on the activity test decreased heart rate significantly better than did low scorers. The relationship between scores for perception of heart and increases in heart rate was nonsignificant: increased heart-rate seemed to depend on differences in respiration between the rest and periods of increase. The significant, negative correlation between trait anxiety and perceptions of heart activity suggested that anxiety affected subjects' ability to perceive heart rate. The theta EEG power of the right hemisphere was significantly higher in subjects scoring high than for those low in perception of heart activity. During heart-rate increase tasks subjects mainly reported use of 'arousal responses,' similarly during heart-rate decrease tasks they reported use of relaxation responses.     

Dyslexia: saccadic eye movements

This paper describes an extensive study of the parameters of saccadic eye movement in a group of 28 poor-reading children and a comparative normally reading group of 31 children. Ages ranged from 6.0 to 16.9 yr. Poor readers had normal intelligence but were lagging by at least two years in reading ability as compared to their peer age group. Parameters studied in refixation eye movements included saccadic latency, accuracy, velocity, and acceleration, as well as differences in latency for abduct and adduct movements. Shapes of saccades were also studied. It was shown that eye-movement performance in simple saccadic refixation was not distinguishably different for poor readers and normal readers, even though in reading, which requires higher processing, eye-movement characteristics are quite different. Maturational changes for various saccadic eye-movement parameters were also examined for the normal and poor reading groups.     

Dynamic balance of learning disabled and nondisabled children

This investigation assessed a difference in the dynamic balance abilities of 30 learning disabled and 30 nondisabled children of elementary-school age. Only distance traveled across the beam, a novel task, was significantly different between groups; no other effects were significant. Nondisabled subjects traveled further across the beam before losing balance than learning disabled children.     

Properties of the recombination of one-dimensional motion signals into a pattern motion signal.

We have examined the human ability to determine the direction of movement of a variety of plaid patterns. The plaids were composed of two orthogonal sine-wave gratings. When the plaid components are of unequal spatial frequency or sometimes of unequal contrast, observers judge the direction of movement incorrectly. In terms of the two-stage model of Adelson and Movshon (1982), these errors may result from either a misjudgment in the perceived speeds of each of the components or a failure in the combination of one-dimensional component movements into a coherent direction of motion of the two-dimensional plaid pattern, or both. A comparison of the perceived direction of motion of plaids with the relative perceived speeds of the plaid component gratings suggest that both failures occur, but in different circumstances. The relative perceived speed of the plaid components was measured with a spatial and a temporal forced-choice technique, the former leading to larger differences. Our results support the notion that the visual system decomposes a moving plaid into oriented components and subsequently recombines the component motions.     

Beyond sex differences: Family and occupational roles' impact on women's and men's dreams

The question addressed is: do recent changes in the occupational roles of women, with their indirect influence on men's lives, have an impact on the dreams of women and men? Three groups of parents (N=96) including in equal numbers, mothers at home, wage-earning mothers and fathers, kept a dream diary from which two dreams per dreamer were content analyzed. Assuming continuity between daytime and dream experiences, it was hypothesized that differences in manifest dream content would be a function of single versus dual role enactment, rather than sex. Contrary to predictions, statistical analyses performed on selected dream variables did not yield significant differences between groups for pleasant and unpleasant emotions, friendly interactions and aggression. Dream characters, and the concerns they reflect, were found to vary, though, according to social roles. Commitment to their family was reflected above all in the mothers' at home dreams, while commitment to their profession took precedence in those of the wage-earning mothers. Comparable commitment to work and family was found among the fathers. Findings suggest that as gender differences in waking life decrease, so may differences in dreams.     

Spouse involvement in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive patients

Twelve married obsessive-compulsive patients were randomly allocated to either selfcontrolled exposure or partner-assisted exposure. Treatment in both conditions consisted of homepactice.The results at the Post-test showed that both versions of exposure in vivo resulted in significant improvements but the partner-assisted group improved more. After a 1-month treatment-free period no significant differences between conditions were found due to a continuing improvement in the selfcontrolled exposure condition. Results were maintained at a 6-month follow-up.It was concluded that home-practice is a cost-effective treatment procedure for obsessive-compulsives and that couple training may be useful with selected patients.     

Cerebral organization in left-handers

We have analyzed the verbal and spatial performances of 141 left-handed and 130 right-handed patients having unilateral hemispheric lesions and that have been grouped according to whether familial sinistrality (FS) is present or not. The present results confirm those of previous studies establishing a relation between FS on one hand and the ambilaterality of the functional representations of language and the lesser intrahemispheric focalization on the other. Such a relation has not only been found with left-handers but, to a lesser extent, with right-handers as well. On the contrary, this type of hemispheric organization does not prevail with respect to spatial functions. These results also allow for the exclusion of any relation between the strength of left-handedness and the pattern of cerebral organization. One finds, nevertheless, some indications that favor the influence of sex on cerebral organization, although it is impossible to specify the interference of this factor.     

EEG alpha reactivity and extraversion-introversion

Spectral characteristics of spontaneous EEG and characteristics of the alpha attenuation response (AAR) induced by acoustic stimulation, were analyzed for two groups of subjects selected on the basis of their scores on the extraversion-introversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. While no significant differences were found in basic alpha rhythm, significant differences were manifested in the AAR characteristics. Extraverted subjects habituated to the auditory stimulus while introverts did not. Introverts were generally more responsive to stimulation. The results are discussed in relation to the arousability model proposed by Eysenck and Gray, verifying the relationships with typological dimensions of Superior Nervous Activity, elaborated by the Soviet school.