Information processing during general anesthesia: Evidence for unconscious memory

Memory for words presented during general anesthesia was studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, surgical patients (n=80) undergoing elective procedures under general anesthesia were presented shortly before and during surgery with words via headphones. At the earliest convenient time after surgery (within 5 h) and 24 h later, memory was tested by asking patients to complete auditorily presented word stems with the first word that came to mind and to leave out words they remembered having heard earlier (exclusion task). Moreover, patients were requested to perform a “yes/no” forcedchoice recognition task to assess recognition memory for both the pre- and intraoperative words. Memory for the material presented during anesthesia was demonstrated immediately after surgery and 24 h later by means of both tasks. In a second similar experiment (n=80), the results were replicated. These findings show that anesthetized patients can process information that was presented intraoperatively.     

Effects of attentional set and rhythmic complexity on attending

In a target detection task involving sustained attentional monitoring, rhythmic properties of tone sequences were found to affect detection performance (area under receiver-operating characteristic curves) and reaction times. Alternating tone frequencies (high, low) formed three different recurrent rhythms (binary, trinary, mixed) which varied in complexity. Attentional set was also manipulated so that participants attended either to tones of both frequencies (divided) or to only the higher of the two tones (selective). The most interesting finding involved an interaction between attentional set and rhythm, indicating that selective attending is enhanced by the most complex (mixed) rhythm, whereas divided attending tends to be best with the simplest rhythm (binary). Results are discussed in terms of a theory of dynamic attending, in which it is assumed that listeners actively use attending oscillators to direct attending.     

Controversies in counseling for mitochondrial conditions

A healthy woman sought preconceptional genetic counseling regarding a family history of a mitochondrial myopathy in her brother and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in her two maternal aunts. Several questions were raised: (1) What is the likelihood of a familial mitochondrial condition? (2) What molecular tests or prenatal screening can we offer? (3) How would these tests help assess the likelihood of a familial mitochondrial condition? A mitochondrial mutation previously identified in the brother consisted of a heteroplasmic 2.9 kb deletion. We detected this deletion in the peripheral blood of the brother by PCR amplification of the deletion breakpoint, but not in his mother, the consultand, nor in one of the two aunts affected with RP. Although the molecular analysis was encouraging to the consultand, a familial mitochondrial disorder could not be eliminated with certainty. The pros and cons of prenatal testing for mitochondrial disorders are discussed in general, and as specifically related to this family.     

Familiarity and attention: Does what we know affect what we notice?

Previous work on the object and word superiority effects has demonstrated that activation from stored representations can facilitate identification of items in a visual display. We predicted that activation of this sort might exogenously attract visual attention toward items that have stored representations. To test this prediction, we presented a familiar (word) and an unfamiliar (nonword) item simultaneously at unpredictable locations, and after varying delays, moved one of the stimuli. In accord with our prediction, at the shortest intervals subjects were more efficient at discriminating motion of the familiar item. Control data demonstrated that this advantage was due to a competitive interaction and not to the familiarity of the items per se.     

Electrophysiologic Manifestations of Impaired Temporal Lobe Auditory Processing in Verbal Auditory Agnosia

The present study examined the extent to which verbal auditory agnosia (VAA) is primarily a phonemic decoding disorder, as contrasted to a more global defect in acoustic processing. Subjects were six young adults who presented with VAA in childhood and who, at the time of testing, showed varying degrees of residual auditory discrimination impairment. They were compared to a group of young adults with normal language development matched for age and gender. Cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to tones and to consonant-vowel stimuli presented in an "oddball" discrimination paradigm. In addition to cortical ERPs, auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and middle latency responses (MLRs) were recorded. Cognitive and language assessments were obtained for the VAA subjects. ABRs and MLRs were normal. In comparison with the control group, the cortical ERPs of the VAA subjects showed a delay in the N1 component recorded over lateral temporal cortex both to tones and to speech sounds, despite an N1 of normal latency overlying the frontocentral region of the scalp. These electrophysiologic findings indicate a slowing of processing of both speech and nonspeech auditory stimuli and suggest that the locus of this abnormality is within the secondary auditory cortex in the lateral surface of the temporal lobes.     

Preserved recognition of familiar personal names in global aphasia.

Recognition of proper and common nouns was compared in four patients diagnosed with global aphasia secondary to ischemic left-hemisphere infarction. For proper noun recognition, subjects matched the spoken or written name of a famous person to a photograph, and for common nouns, subjects were tested on standardized and special word recognition tests. As expected, common noun recognition was severely compromised in the aphasic patients. In contrast, familiar personal names, despite their greater length and complexity, were recognized equally well by aphasic and normal control subjects. The right hemisphere may mediate the ability to recognize personally familiar names, as it may be specialized for establishing personally relevant environmental stimuli.     

How can the federal government help education-related clearinghouses?

A survey of 100 education-related clearinghouses reveals that most are supported by the federal government; there is a great deal of redundancy among them in content and types of information covered; and that with the exception of the ERIC system clearinghouses, there is little coordination among them. This article suggests how Congress and the Department of Education can influence and coordinate clearinghouse activities to make it easier for educators to acquire the information they need to cope with the knowledge explosion expected to continue into the 1990s. Susan S. Klein is a senior staff member in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, where she has worked with the ERIC Clearinghouses. Dr. Klein is now providing technical assistance on dissemination issues to the Select Education Subcommittee of the House of Representatives. Over the years she has helped manage research, evaluation, and dissemination programs in the National Institute of Education and the U.S. Office of Education. She has published in the areas of educational equity, dissemination, and evaluation, and recently edited and contributed to a special issue ofKnowledge, Creation, Diffusion, Utilization on “Federal Programs in Educational Dissemination.” She is on the board of the Knowledge Utilization Society.     

The relationship of temperament and adjustment in Japanese schools

We hypothesized that children whose temperaments match the features, demands, and values of their environment will demonstrate a better fit or adjustment to that environment. Culture is one factor that influences the environment. This study examined the temperament ideal held by Japanese teachers (N = 18) as well as the relationship between judged temperament and the adjustment of children (N = 108) in kindergarten, first-, and second-grade Japanese classrooms. A questionnaire assessed a range of temperament for both ideal and actual judgments. Temperament ideals were consistent with previous sociological research. Good adjustment was significantly related to high task orientation, persistence, and flexibility, as well as to an approaching (as opposed to a withdrawing) style and a positive mood. The child who fit the cultural ideal of a "good child" was also perceived as better adjusted to the programs, and to the adults and peers in Japanese schools.