A neural activity interpretation of luminance effects on infant pattern preferences

Visual pattern preferences were established for 9- and 13-week-old infants (N = 96) using stimuli varying in contour density presented either at a low, moderate, or high luminance level. Age differences in the maximally preferred patterns across stimuli and luminance levels indicated that luminance interacts with contour density in determining stimulus preference functions for a given age. A neural activation model based on synchronous neural activity was advanced to describe these results.     

Factors affecting the magnitude of subjective utility parameters in a tacit bargaining game

Eighty male and female high school students played a modified version of the Siegel and Fouraker (1960) bilateral monopoly game, designed to assess the effects of two variables upon the development of aspiration level (AL), comparison level (CL), and comparison level for alternatives (CL_nlt), and the interrelationships among these three subjective-utility parameters. Magnitude of: (a) the offers made by a programmed bargaining opponent (high vs low), and (b) the alternative to the bargaining relationship (high vs low) was varied in a 2 × 2 design. Subjects receiving high offers bargained tougher, rated themselves as more satisfied with their outcomes and, in support of the hypothesis, set their AL, CL, and CL_alt estimates higher than those receiving low offers. Contrary to expectation, however, AL, CL, and CL_alt were set highest by subjects in the “high offer-low alternative” condition. When subjects' three subjective-utility estimates were considered in relation to one another, all condition differences disappeared. These latter findings were interpreted using notions drawn from Upshaw's (1969) variable perspective theory of judgment.     

Escape nightmares and postescape stressful events

Correlation matrix based on questionnaire item responses by 38 Czechoslovak refugees suggested that "escape nightmares" (recurrent nightmares about being back in the exhomeland, wanting to or trying to re-escape to the free world) are unrelated to postescape incidence of various stressful events (e.g., illness, job difficulties, financial problems). However, refugees who reported a greater number of the stressful events also reported a somewhat higher incidence of nightmares on themes other than escape from homeland (r = .34).     

Apraxia in a patient with atypical cerebral dominance

Liepmann postulated that the left hemisphere of right-handed persons contains the "movement formulas" that control purposeful skilled movements of the limbs on both sides of the body. Accordingly, in right-handers apraxia should follow damage to the left hemisphere, whereas right hemisphere damage should not lead to apraxia. Although this is generally true, we recently examined a right-handed man who after a right hemispheric stroke became aphasic and apraxic with his nonparalyzed right hand. Our observations suggest that the right hemisphere of this right-handed man made a critical contribution to the planning and execution of skilled movements. This case provides evidence that right-handers should not be considered a homogeneous group in terms of cerebral motor dominance and that contrary to Liepmann's postulate, hemispheric dominance for the control of skilled movements does not entirely determine handedness.     

Phonological alexia with optic and tactile anomia: a neuropsychological and anatomical study

We describe a patient with phonological alexia caused by a small hemorrhage in the posterior-inferior portion of the left temporal lobe. The lesion induced a highly selective impairment of phonological reading without concomitant oral language deficits other than anomia for objects presented in the visual and tactile modalities. We propose that an intact dorsal pathway from inferior visual association areas to Wernicke's area via the angular gyrus could mediate reading by the lexical route, while damage to a ventral pathway disrupted the patient's ability to read nonwords. We suggest further that although visually and tactually presented objects could be recognized and both verbally and nonverbally identified, they could not be named because of a disconnection from the area of word representations.