Right hemisphere comprehension of verbs in patients with complete forebrain commissurotomy: Use of the dichotic method and manual performance

The paradigm of dichotic listening was used to investigate verbal comprehension in the right, so-called “nonverbal,” hemisphere. Verbal commands were presented to the right and left ears in the simultaneous (dichotic) paradigm. There were striking instances, especially when the left hemisphere was occupied with some extraneous task, in which the right hemisphere understood the verbal command and executed the appropriate motor responses. In those instances the left hemisphere gave no overt response. Although the left hemisphere was usually dominant, it can be nevertheless concluded that not only can the right hemisphere understand verbal commands but can also express itself manually by executing actions more complex than object retrieval or pointing. As has been known for some time, the blockage of the ipsilateral pathway seems so complete during dichotic listening in the commissurotomy patient that there is no report of the words in the left ear—only of those presented to the right. At the same time there is normal report when words are presented to the left ear alone. It was found in the present study, however, that this model is too simple and only applies to the verbal response paradigm of dichotic listening. Under circumstances of dichotic presentation where the stimulus in the left ear (ipsilateral pathway) is necessary or important to the left hemisphere for completing a task, words from both pathways are reported. One may conclude that there exists a gating mechanism in each hemisphere that controls the monitoring of each auditory pathway and the degree of ipsilateral suppression.     

Shift of visual field preference for Hebrew words in native speakers learning to read

Lateralization for Hebrew words was tested in both the visual and auditory modalities in Israeli children learning to read their native language, Hebrew. A left visual field preference for tachistoscopically presented words was found in the second graders in contrast to a right visual field preference for the same words in the third graders. Children in both grades showed a right ear dominance for similar words presented dichotically. These data suggest right hemisphere involvement in acquiring reading skills of a native language.     

Extending Holland's theory to the later years

Sixty-five men and women, aged 50 to 88 years, completed Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and a work history questionnaire. Each participant was assigned one-letter Holland personality type codes for his or her first full-time job, longest full-time job, last job (if retired) or present job (if employed), and hobbies. In general, VPI scale scores and high point codes were consistent with the occupational codes but less consistent with the hobby code. The usefulness of Holland's vocational theory to the aged population is discussed.     

DEC performance in the psychology laboratory

A survey of the On-Line Psychology DEC Users’ Group was taken to evaluate DEC’s performance in the psychology research laboratory. Data were obtained for 20 rating scale items and 7 open-ended items in five categories. On a 10-point scale, DEC averaged about 6 on purchasing procedures and documentation, about 4 on delivery time and maintenance service, and about 7 on product satisfaction. The open-ended items provided users’ explanations for the ratings and new hardware and software that users would like to see from DEC in the near future.     

1980 DEC users’ group report

The 1980 meeting of users/owners of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer equipment is discussed.     

Medication effects in the classroom: Three naturalistic indicators

Hyperactive and comparison boys participated in 5-week summer enrichment programs that included classroom activities and structured assessments of peer interaction patterns. During the 3rd and 4th weeks of these programs, a double-blind, methylphenidate-placebo crossover design was implemented within the hyperactive group. Three heterogeneous indicators of everyday behaviors were obtained: number of negative incidents noted by staff, quality of handwriting, and number of times the teacher called the boys' names aloud in the classroom. Medication effects emerged for each of these indicators. When hyperactive boys were taking placebos, they were involved in more negative incidents, their handwriting was poorer, and their names were called more frequently than when the boys were taking methylphenidate. Interrelationships among the measures suggest moderate cross-situational generality of medication responsiveness. Discussion focused on the bandwidth of medication effects and the need to examine the social ramifications of child treatments.This research was supported in part by NIMH grant 29475 and NIDA grant 01070. We gratefully acknowledge the participation of the data coders and the many summer school staff. Special thanks go to Mike Berlin, Barry E. Collins, and Sharon Dotemoto. Methylphenidate and placebo were supplied by Ciba-Geigy, Summit, New Jersey.     

Conflict,learning, and Piaget: Comments on Zimmerman and Blom's “Toward an empirical test of the role of cognitive conflict in learning”

A brief historical account dealing with the concept of psychic conflict is first presented, followed by an examination of Piaget's equilibrium/equilibration model and the relevance of the concept of conflict to that model. A critical analysis of B. J. Zimmerman and D. E. Blom (Developmental Review, 1983, 3, 18–38) is then presented, after which suggestions are made regarding future directions research efforts pertaining to Piaget's conflict/learning formulation might fruitfully take.     

Characteristics of schizophrenics' and neurotics' relatives

A group of adult first-degree relatives of schizophrenics were compared with a control sample of neurotics' relatives on the EPQ, an earlier version of the Eysenck P scale, and on three specially-constructed scales of ‘psychoticism’ (STA, STB and S), derived from a consideration of the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia and of the ‘borderline syndromes’. Overall differences, in a predictable direction, were confined to the EPQ P scale where schizophrenics' relatives had significantly higher scores, though further analysis suggested that this was due partly to the raised scores of males and partly to very low P-scores seen in male neurotics' relatives. Scores on the STA, measuring schizophrenic ‘symptoms’, were very low in schizophrenics' relatives, due, it was argued, to extremely defensive responding in that group. Results are also reported for two psychophysiological measures, forearm EMG and skin conductance. Here marked group differences were observed, schizophrenics' relatives having significantly higher mean EMG and significantly lower mean skin conductance. This unusual pattern of response was especially evident in a small subgroup of schizophrenics' relatives whose personality profiles tended to differ in the predictable direction, towards greater ‘psychoticism’. The psychophysiological data were highly consistent with other results from our laboratory demonstrating a ‘dissociation’ between different measures of ‘arousal’ in high-P normal subjects and in psychotic patients and it was concluded that measures based on such a conception of the biological basis of schizophrenia offer considerable promise as high-risk indicators of psychopathology.     

What’s happening in CAI: A survey of ongoing projects

As there are more CAI papers in this year’s “Computers in Psychology” program than in any past year, the membership was surveyed to provide a broad overview of current trends. This is a report of the obtained data (1) on what courses use CAI and the hardware supporting those courses, (2) on the software and “courseware” involved, (3) on CAI record-keeping and evaluation procedures, and (4) on the financial costs and educational benefits of the various projects.     

Early lexical development in children with focal brain injury

Early lexical development in 27 children with focal brain injury was studied cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Data were obtained from children between 12 and 35 months of age who acquired their lesion prenatally or within the first 6 months of life. Results for the group as a whole provide clear evidence for delays in lexical comprehension and production, and for a larger number of comprehension/production dissociations than would be expected by chance. In addition, a significant number of children were observed having unusual difficulty mastering predication and/or using an atypically high proportion of closed class words (suggesting reliance on holistic/formulaic speech). Analyses by lesion type revealed no effect of lesion size. Analyses according to side of lesion revealed that children with right-hemisphere damage produced a higher proportion of closed class words, suggesting heavy reliance on well-practiced but under-analyzed speech formulae. Children with left-hemisphere damage were slightly better in comprehension than children with right-hemisphere damage. In addition, left posterior lesions were associated with greater delays in expressive language, and delays were more protracted in children with left posterior damage. No differential effects of left posterior damage were found for lexical comprehension.