Results of neurophysiologic studies in ophthalmic migraine

The influence in 8 of our patients with ophthalmic migraine of photic driving with sine-like flashing lights on EEG background activity was checked and the visually evoked potentials following the application of diffused simple light stimuli were analyzed using the recovery cycle technique. The results indicate a slightly increased tonic activity of the structures of the mesencephalic formatio reticularis, such as may be produced by slight functional disturbances. Some vegetative secondary symptoms of migraine attacks and some of the changes in EEG observed in patients with ophthalmic migraine are explicable by such an abnormality.     

Behavior of visual evoked potentials (pattern reversal VECP) in smokers

Twenty six clinically healthy smokers were studied with transient pattern visual-evoked potentials. In comparison with a sample of "normal" subjects we found a difference of some parameters (P less than 0.05): the P2-latency and the interocular difference of latency on average were 6-7 ms respectively 2 ms larger. Thirteen subjects have had a prolonged P2-latency (P less than 0.05) and/or a difference in interocular latencies larger than 5 ms. These findings may suggest on subclinical disturbances of visual system and indicators of an special sensitivity of that person. The findings are possibly related to tobacco-alcohol amblyopia.     

Effect of EMG-biofeedback training in reduction of muscle tension for individuals displaying type A behavior patterns

This study investigated the effect of EMG biofeedback training in reducing muscle tension among subjects who displayed Type A behavior. 22 Type A college students (19 to 22 yr. old) were randomly assigned to either a biofeedback group or a control group. After 6 wk. of training, Type A subjects showed a significant reduction in muscle tension for both resting and aroused states; however, the reduction of muscle tension did not result in reduction of Type A behavior patterns.     

Preserved spatial memory in old rats survives 10 months without training

Aged rats with extensive prior training on the radial maze retain the capacity for accurate spatial working memory (WM) for at least 3 months without practice. To investigate the temporal limits of this influence of prior experience we compared the reacquisition of spatial WM by a group of experienced 21.5-month-old rats to the original acquisition by naive 3-month-old rats. The aged rats had received 225 radial maze tests between 3 and 11 months of age. Despite 10 months without practice the old rats rapidly reacquired critical performance. Their reacquisition was markedly superior to original learning by the young rats, even when delays as long as 5 h were imposed between the rats' fourth and fifth choices during the daily tests in the eight-arm maze. Additional tests showed that neither young nor old rats employed a response strategy to maintain accurate spatial WM performance. Experience clearly confers long-lived protection against the otherwise deleterious effects of aging on spatial WM, but the mechanism by which this influence arises is unknown.     

Cue depreciation: when word fragment completion is undermined by prior exposure to lesser fragments

The ability to think of a previously studied item has often been shown to be impaired when, in one way or another, the extraitem context is changed from study to test. In a series of five experiments, such impairment is induced in a somewhat different way. A fragment (e.g. r-i--rop) of a just-studied word (raindrop) is shown to be less readily completed if it is presented bit by bit (r------p, r----r-p, r-i--r-p, r-i--rop) rather than all at once (Experiments 1, 3, 4, and 5). No such effect is found if the word has not been studied beforehand (Experiments 2, 3, 4, and 5). This pattern of results occurs even when fragments of studied and nonstudied words occur in the same test and under conditions in which subjects cannot tell whether a given fragment is of a studied or nonstudied word (Experiments 4 and 5). In addition, for words that have been studied beforehand, the impairment is shown to increase systematically with the number of steps involved in the presentation of the word fragment (Experiment 3) and also to persist when the time allowed for completion of the final version of the fragment is increased from 4 s to a full minute (Experiment 5).     

苏联心理学界对活动理论的近期讨论

本文综述了近几年来苏联心理学界对A.H.列昂节夫代表的活动理论的讨论情况。其中包括三种意见,一种是支持态度,一种是持较大异议、企图用系统论取而代之的态度,一种是既不完全支持,也不完全否定的态度。从讨论中可以看出,活动理论在苏联仍有很大影响,人们公认列昂节夫是苏联马克思主义心理学奠基者之一,公认他提出的活动理论对建设马克思主义心理学的重要贡献。目前开展的讨论,不是要否定和批判活动理论,而是在爱护、珍惜它的前提下,对它进行补充、修正和发展,使它更加完善。作者认为,这一讨论对我们的主要启示是:一、苏联心理学者在把马克思主义作为建设心理学的方法论基础这一点上,没有根本分歧;二、我国心理学界需要展开一些理论上的争鸣和讨论,需要培养我们自己的理论家;三、必须首先明确“中国心理学的发展究竟走哪条路”的问题,为此应该重视基本理论的建设。     

Factors influencing readability of rapidly presented text segments

Experiment 1 compared paragraph comprehension for texts shown either as normal pages on a computer terminal screen or as rapid serial visual presentations (RSVPs) of small text segments to a common location. Over several days of practice, reading comprehension was equivalent in the normal presentation mode and the RSVP format. When successive RSVP segments contained some information in common, to mimic the experience of successive parafoveal and foveal views of words in normal reading, comprehension was somewhat worse than when successive segments contained no overlapping information. Experiment 2 used a variety of segment size and segment duration combinations to investigate the optimal means of presenting text in the RSVP format. Across a variety of presentation rates and text difficulties, comprehension was maximal for segments averaging about 12 character spaces in length. In Experiment 3, texts were divided into short idea units or into random segments of equal average length. Comprehension was shown to be greater in the structured condition than in the random condition. An optimal means of presenting text in the RSVP format could be superior to normal presentation methods for reading and other text-processing tasks.     

刺激-效应的统一模型

本文通过对某些神经生理学实验结果的分析,从人体感受器官能够经受信号强度的巨大变化出发,建立了反映刺激τ和效应E一般关系的效应方程E=Blog(1+τ)。式中系数B为与效应E同量纲或性质的条件恒量。 值得注意的是,效应方程把心理学领域中许多不相关的经验定律用统一的模型联系起来。例如,从效应方程出发,能够推出实验心理学中的遗忘定律、海曼公式,心理物理学中的费希纳定律、韦伯定律、费瑞—帕特定律和格拉涅-哈帕公式等。 此外,对遗忘定律进行了修正,使其能适用于0≤t<1的时间范围,从而变得较全面。对费希纳定律也作了类似的修正,避免了出现负的感觉,并从不同角度阐述了效应E与感觉S的某些性质。对格拉涅-哈帕公式则作了较前更为合理的解释。 在推导关于闪光融合频率的费瑞-帕特定律时,得出一条影响中枢神经处理信息的速度和精度的规律。 作为这一模型的直接验证,可以从前人所作的一些实验数据分析中得出。本文举的例子为鲎鱼单根神经的实验;在另文里将举出反应时间依赖于刺激强度的另一个实例。     

Catamnestic surveys on somato-psychosocial development in childhood and adolescence of patients with unipolar depressive and bipolar manic-depressive psychoses

The somatic and psychosocial development of 80 subjects with manifest affective-phasic psychoses is studied retrospectively and compared with that of an identically sized control group consisting of neuropsychiatrically healthy subjects. Statistically significant differences were found particularly in the answers to questions dealing with social situation and social adaptability. Achievement at school and vocational qualifications were lower among the parents of the patients than among those of the healthy subjects. Characteristic features of the patients' childhood and adolescence were transient depression, often for no apparent cause, and maladaption, and vocational wishes were fulfilled less often than among the controls. The patients experienced greater difficulty in settling in to a new group due to their contact difficulties.     

Acoustically evoked brain stem potential in Wilson disease

By 48 patients with Wilson's disease the brainstem acoustic evoked potentials were stated. There were 35 pathological findings (73%), 13 were normal (27%). The waves, determined by the middle and upper brainstem (Pons and Mesencephalon) showed most of all pathological changes. Those patients with forms of Wilson's disease called Pseudoskelerose and Pseudoparkinson showed the most pathological findings. But one could watch these findings by about 30% of patients in preclinical stage. This method can possibly be used for early detection of disorders of brainstem functions and in the same way it can be used for control of treatment by patients in preclinical stage.