Bilingual corpus callosum variability

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to produce midsagittal images of the corpus callosum of 19 right-handed adult male and female subjects. The preliminary findings of this study indicate that significant adaptation in the anterior midbody of the corpus callosum has occurred to accommodate multiple language capacity in bilingual individuals compared to monolingual individuals. The main interpretation of this finding is that the precentral gyrus is involved in bilingual faculty adaptation assuming a role consistent with the somatotopical input to areas dedicated to the mouth, and input to association tracts connecting the premotor and supplementary motor cortices. This paper discusses possible implications to neuroscientists, second language educators, and their students.     

The impact of left and right intracranial tumors on picture and word recognition memory

This study investigated the effects of left and right intracranial tumors on picture and word recognition memory. We hypothesized that left hemispheric (LH) patients would exhibit greater word recognition memory impairment than right hemispheric (RH) patients, with no significant hemispheric group picture recognition memory differences. The LH patient group obtained a significantly slower mean picture recognition reaction time than the RH group. The LH group had a higher proportion of tumors extending into the temporal lobes, possibly accounting for their greater pictorial processing impairments. Dual coding and enhanced visual imagery may have contributed to the patient groups' similar performance on the remainder of the measures.     

Use of visual, acoustic, and olfactory information during embedded invertebrate foraging in brown capuchins (Cebus apella)

Experiments were conducted to investigate which sensory cues are used by brown capuchins (Cebus apella) in embedded invertebrate foraging. The importance of visual, olfactory, and acoustic cues in such foraging was determined by presenting subjects with a stimulus log modified to block out given sensory cues. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate whether subjects could locate an invertebrate embedded in wood when only visual, acoustic, or olfactory information was available. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to investigate extractive foraging behavior when two sensory cues were provided. It was hypothesized that the combination of visual and acoustic information would be necessary for subjects to successfully locate embedded invertebrates. Results indicated that subjects' performance was most successful when both visual and acoustic information was available.     

Validation of the Wisconsin Personality Disorders Inventory-IV with the SCID-II

The Wisconsin Personality Disorders Inventory (WISPI-IV; Klein & Benjamin, 1996) is the latest version of a self-report measure of DSM-IV personality disorders (PDs) derived from an interpersonal perspective. When categorical diagnoses derived from the WISPI-IV were compared with independent SCID-II diagnoses, the majority of the kappas were poor (>.40). However, all but one of the effect sizes for the differences in WISPI-IV means between groups with and without SCID-II diagnoses were large (>.80). When SCID-II and WISPI-IV dimensional scores were considered, the average r between profiles was .61 (median = .58) and correlations between corresponding PD scales (mean diagonal r = .48; mean off-diagonal r = .18) indicated good convergent and discriminant validity for five of the WISPI-IV scales. These results add to the cumulating evidence suggesting greater reliability and validity of dimensional over categorical scores for PDs. Researchers and clinicians interested in having an efficient method of assessing PDs may consider using a dimensional approach such as the WISPI-IV as an alternative to diagnostic interview.     

Electrophysiological responses to errors and feedback in the process of action regulation

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is believed to be involved in the executive control of actions, such as in monitoring conflicting response demands, detecting errors, and evaluating the emotional significance of events. In this study, participants performed a task in which evaluative feedback was delayed, so that it was irrelevant to immediate response control but retained its emotional value as a performance indicator. We found that a medial frontal feedback-related negativity similar to the error-related negativity (ERN) tracked affective response to the feedback and predicted subsequent performance. Source analysis of the feedback-related negativity and ERN revealed a common dorsomedial ACC source and a rostromedial ACC source specific to the ERN. The oscillatory nature of these sources provides further evidence that the ERN reflects ongoing theta activity generated in the mediofrontal regions. These results suggest that action regulation by the cingulate gyrus may require the entrainment of multiple structures of the Papez corticolimbic circuit.     

Young and Poor: The Well-Being of Adolescent Girls Living in Families Receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program

We present our findings on the current well-being of 125 adolescent girls living in families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) in terms of their health, mental health, and substance abuse status, academic performance, and teenage behaviors. This mixed-method study included separate structured face-to-face interviews with each adolescent and her mother. In addition, 20 daughters were randomly selected and completed more in-depth qualitative interviews. The findings suggest that generally the daughters were in good physical health although they reported mental health problems at about twice the rate that would be expected in a general pediatric sample. Further, about 3–5% of the daughters had a potential serious substance abuse problem. With respect to school, about 28% were not currently attending school although the majority of daughters who were attending school maintained a B average or better. Nearly two-thirds of the daughters reported being sexually active and almost 17% of the adolescents had children of their own, much higher than the 2.9% national rate of girls in this age cohort. While many of these daughters life circumstances may not be optimal, findings from both the quantitative and qualitative interviews with both mothers and daughters indicate that these daughters possess many strengths, abilities, and desires.     

Anxiety-related attentional biases and their regulation by attentional control

This study examined the role of self-reported attentional control in regulating attentional biases related to trait anxiety. Simple detection targets were preceded by cues labeling potential target locations as threatening (likely to result in negative feedback) or safe (likely to result in positive feedback). Trait anxious participants showed an early attentional bias favoring the threatening location 250 ms after the cue and a late bias favoring the safe location 500 ms after the cue. The anxiety-related threat bias was moderated by attentional control at the 500-ms delay: Anxious participants with poor attentional control still showed the threat bias, whereas those with good control were better able to shift from the threatening location. Thus, skilled control of voluntary attention may allow anxious persons to limit the impact of threatening information.     

The Williams syndrome cognitive profile

Williams syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a hemizygous deletion of approximately 1.5 megabases on chromosome 7q11.23. In this article, we outline a Williams Syndrome Cognitive Profile (WSCP) that operationalizes the cognitive characteristics of the syndrome using measures of absolute and relative performance on subtests of the Differential Abilities Scales (Elliot, 1990a). Testing confirmed excellent sensitivity and specificity scores for the WSCP. Seventy-four of 84 individuals with Williams syndrome fit the WSCP while only 4 participants in a contrast group met all of the WSCP criteria. It was also found that the WSCP does not vary greatly with chronological age or overall level of cognitive ability for individuals with Williams syndrome. Possible applications for the WSCP include psychoeducational evaluation and empirical research such as the search for genotype/phenotype relations in this genetically based syndrome.